Computer Power and Human Reason by Joseph Weizenbaum. It's a true classic. Weizenbaum wrote the first AI chat program, Eliza, sixty years ago. I read his b

Computer Power and Human Reason by Joseph Weizenbaum. It's a true classic. Weizenbaum wrote the first AI chat program, Eliza, sixty years ago. I read his book shortly after it came out in 1976, and several times since, most recently last year after ChatGPT etc. arrived. I was impressed again how pertinent and prescient it is. A fifty year old book about AI is still relevant because it is mostly about peoples' motivations for building and using AI, their expectations for it, and their responses to it. These haven't changed in fifty years and don't depend on the technology in the AI, or what it can actually do. Weizenbaum recognizes that making and using computer technology has moral and ethical consequences and isn't afraid to say so. He argues that computers should not be used for some purposes, whether or not they can be made to work.