How Computers Learned to Talk Like Humans

This article traces the history of conversational AI, starting with Alan Turing's 1950 Turing Test, which framed machine intelligence as the ability to hold human-like conversations. It then covers ELIZA (1966), the first chatbot using pattern matching, and the ELIZA effect where users attribute understanding to simple programs. The article discusses limitations of rule-based systems and introduces statistical methods like Markov chains, leading to modern large language models. It explains key concepts in accessible terms, making it a good primer for anyone curious about how computers learned to talk like humans.