Play traces AI ethics back to the first chatbot's 1960s birth
Melbourne theatre play Eliza tells the story of Dr Joseph Weizenbaum. In the 1960s, he built the world's first chatbot. The play explores the ethical questions it raised.
The play runs at Southbank Theatre through October 31. It follows Weizenbaum, a MIT professor and refugee from Nazi Germany.
He builds Eliza, an early conversational computer program. The story shows how people wanted to share secrets with what they saw as a neutral machine.
This mirrors AI today. Similar questions come up about what is real and what is conscious.
Director Paige Rattray stages the play as a psychological thriller. The sets use cascading files and glass.
They show how reality and personhood blur together. The production argues that ethical problems in AI today started at the beginning.
It says progress and humanity remain linked.
- Southbank Theatre
- Theatre venue
- Through October 31
- Run dates
- Paige Rattray
- Director
- 1960s
- Year Eliza created
Why it mattersAI is reshaping how we work and think. The play offers a view grounded in history. It explores questions many people wrestle with today. These are about machine consciousness and human vulnerability.
AustraliaAustralian theatre-goers in Melbourne can see the production at Southbank's Sumner venue through the end of October; the story also speaks to broader Australian cultural conversation about AI's role in society.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 3 h ago
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