The Evolution of Chatbots
While chatbots have gained some attention in recent years, the concept itself has been around for quite some time. Even before the introduction of personal computers Eliza, the first chatbot, was developed by the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, headed by Joseph Weizenbaum, in 1966 and was named after Eliza Doolittle in the musical My Fair Lady.
Thereafter, a physician at Stanford University – Kenneth Colby, created Parry – the next chatbot – to emulate a person with paranoid schizophrenia. Later, the A.L.I.C.E was introduced in 1995. It was created by Richard Wallace.
Several virtual assistants appeared following this. The first one to introduce conversational aides was Siri by Apple. Soon after Google introduced the Google Assistant for Android, the concepts gained greater popularity. Microsoft began by emulating its competitor, bringing Cortana to life.