1966 — First chatbot
ELIZA 1966
Rule‑based engine
Discover the original ELIZA engine (1966) and compare it with its modern 2026 reinterpretation. Observe the pipeline, the rules, the pronoun substitutions and the processing time.
1966RulesDOCTORJoseph Weizenbaum
Pedagogical comparison
Enter a message: it is sent simultaneously to both engines. Observe each pipeline, explore the internal steps and understand why the responses differ.
Why are these responses different?
ELIZA 1966
- • Hand‑written rule engine
- • No language understanding
- • No memory between messages
- • Fixed replies, chosen from a list
- • Fast, deterministic, transparent
ELIZA 2026
- • Language model (≈ 7 B parameters)
- • Contextual understanding
- • Conversation memory
- • Dynamically generated reply
- • Adapts to tone and topic
ELIZA 1966
Rule‑based engine
Waiting for a message…
ELIZA 2026
Language model
Waiting for a message…
Connecting to AI provider…

