Whilst you may have only heard about AI recently, the concept of machines understanding and generating human-like language has been evolving for decades. The journey began with simple conversational programmes like Eliza, developed in 1966 by a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Eliza mimicked conversation using a rule-based script to match user inputs and generate responses – a basic form of interaction when compared to modern standards.1 Today’s Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, stand out due to their ease of use and extensive capabilities. These are highly complex software systems that have been trained on wide-ranging datasets of text from the internet.
This training allows them to learn patterns of language, meaning they can predict what word comes next in a sentence or how to complete a thought in a way that sounds convincingly human. The ability…
