ELIZA effect


ELIZA effect

(jargon)/e-li:'z* *-fekt'/ (From ELIZA) The tendency ofhumans to attach associations to terms from prior experience.For example, there is nothing magic about the symbol "+" thatmakes it well-suited to indicate addition; it's just thatpeople associate it with addition. Using "+" or "plus" tomean addition in a computer language is taking advantage ofthe ELIZA effect.

The ELIZA effect is a Good Thing when writing a programminglanguage, but it can blind you to serious shortcomings whenanalysing an Artificial Intelligence system.

Compare ad-hockery; see also AI-complete.