Joseph Weizenbaum
Joseph Weizenbaum
Joseph Weizenbaum was a Professor of Computer Science at MIT, where his work on ELIZA fundamentally shifted artificial intelligence philosophy. By proving simple scripts could manipulate emotions, his research laid the groundwork for modern human-computer interaction and AI anthropomorphism. Weizenbaum later pivoted to technology ethics, publishing Computer Power and Human Reason in 1976 and lecturing globally on automation's limits. Today, MIT's archives and the Computer History Museum preserve his artifacts. Furthermore, Berlin's Weizenbaum Institute was founded in his honour to research digital ethics, ensuring his warnings remain central to tech policy.