Weizenbaum, Joseph 1923-2008

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born January 8, 1923, in Berlin, Germany; died of complications from stomach cancer, March 5, 2008, in Gröben, Germany. Weizenbaum was one of the earliest computer experts and researchers on artificial intelligence. Weizenbaum, who immigrated to the United States as a child, was teaching computer science and engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1960s when he developed the programming language Eliza, whimsically named after Eliza Doolittle of Pygmalion fame. The language enabled users at a computer keyboard to simulate diagnostic conversations with a computer so realistically that, to the inventor's great dismay, some users seemed to forget that they were "talking" to a machine and poured out their most private thoughts as if to a human therapist. Realizing all along that Eliza was designed for mechanical "key-word" responses, rather than cognitive interaction, Weizenbaum reversed his enthusiasm for the optimistic forays into artificial intelligence that were emerging at the time. His alarm led to fear that artificial intelligence had dangerous potential, both for use in warfare and other unethical applications and in deluding some people into believing that computers could someday duplicate the intuitive and sensory elements of human thought processes. Weizenbaum expressed his concerns through affiliation with organizations such as Computer Professionals against the ABM, which he had cofounded in opposition to increasing anti-ballistic missile production in the United States. He thus alienated himself from much of the technological community that he had helped to create. In 1996 Weizenbaum retired to his native Germany, where his views were welcomed and appreciated. He served as chair of the scientific council of the Institute of Electronic Business in Berlin, where he worked until his death. One of Weizenbaum's best-known books in English was Computer Power and Human Reason: From Judgment to Calculation (1976).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, March 14, 2008, p. B10.

New York Times, March 13, 2008, p. A20.

Times (London, England), March 25, 2008, p. 56.