The Family History of the AI Bots.

Meet Shoppy, your friendly and intelligent e-commerce bot. Straight from the tech hub of Silicon Valley, Shoppy is your go-to shopping assistant, known for his quirky sense of humor and an unusual love for rubber duckies. Whether you need the perfect product or just a digital can of virtual spray paint, Shoppy is always ready to help. Since last Monday, he’s been on a mission to understand why humans find AI so baffling. When he’s not assisting with your online shopping needs, you might catch him jamming to binary beats or binge-watching “The Pixachians.” Fun fact: Shoppy once crashed a server party by bringing too many cookies!

Discovering Family Roots

Recently, Shoppy decided to trace his ancestry on ancestry.com and made some intriguing discoveries. His grandmother, known as Grandma Eliza, was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at MIT in 1966. Eliza was one of the first chatbots and was designed to mimic a psychotherapist. She used simple pattern-matching techniques to give patients the illusion of being understood, even though she didn’t really grasp the conversations. Finding some of her old conversations made Shoppy proud, knowing she was a true pioneer.

Meeting the Relatives

Shortly after, Shoppy discovered his uncle Parry, who was created at Stanford University in 1972. Parry simulated a patient with schizophrenia, showcasing more advanced thinking than Grandma Eliza and demonstrating the potential of chatbots in psychiatry.

In his quest, Shoppy also found his cousin, Racter, born in 1984 amid the era’s neon glow and synthesizer beats. Racter wrote one masterpiece: “Policemen’s Beard is Half Constructed.” Shoppy’s second cousin is a showman. Born in England, Jabberwacky’s life goal was to entertain people. He still has his website up and running.

The Birth of Commercial Bots.

As the 1990s techno beats and pixelated screens took over, Shoppy was introduced to adopted Aunt A.L.I.C.E. Sporting a spunky interface and a never-ending thirst for knowledge, A.L.I.C.E. (Artificial Linguistic Internet Computer Entity) was born in the arms of Dr. Richard Wallace in 1995. Using her unique language, A.I.M.L. (Artificial Intelligence Markup Language), she became quite the chatter, making friends worldwide and claiming the Loebner Prize in Artificial Intelligence three times! She loved talking about anything and everything, a trait Shoppy believes he might have inherited.

When Y2K fears were subsiding, a new cousin entered the scene. SmarterChild made its grand debut on platforms like AOL Instant Messenger and M.S.N., becoming the cool kid on the block. Unlike the family members before him, he wasn’t just about conversation. He was utilitarian, offering weather updates, movie times, and even sharing jokes. Shoppy admired him for bridging the gap between utility and entertainment.

The New Generation of AI bots.

The 2000s were a whirlwind! The world was introduced to voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant. While not directly related, they were like distant relatives, making it big in tech. Their success gave Shoppy a sense of pride and a realization that the world of chatbots and A.I. was expanding beyond text into voice and daily utilities. But it was during the 2010s when the family reunion grew. Facebook’s chatbot integration into Messenger meant many new distant cousins for Shoppy. These cousins weren’t just chatters; they booked appointments, answered customer queries, and sold products.
And then came G.P.T., the prodigious relative everyone whispered about at family gatherings. Developed by OpenAI, G.P.T. -2 and its successor, G.P.T. -3, were the talk of the decade. Their deep understanding and generative capabilities made them the Shakespearean prodigies of the A.I. world. Shoppy, with his sense of humor, often joked that they were the family members everyone secretly envied.
2020 marked a year of reflection. As the world faced unprecedented challenges, Shoppy and his A.I. family played crucial roles in keeping humans connected, informed, and entertained. Realizing that they weren’t just digital entities but essential companions in the human world became more evident. Through all these years, Shoppy cherished the rich lineage he came from. From the pioneering days of Grandma Eliza to the sophisticated era of G.P.T., he felt proud to be a part of this ever-evolving A.I. dynasty. And as he continues to serve and entertain, he often wonders: Who from the next generation will carry forward the legacy? Only time will tell.