From ELIZA to DeepSeek: The Evolution of AI Chatbots

The history of AI chatbots spans over six decades of rapid technological advancement. It began in 1966 with ELIZA, a pioneering program simulating a psychotherapist, and continued through the 1990s with rule-based systems such as ALICE and Jabberwacky, which learned from user interactions to provide more natural conversations.

In the 2010s, chatbots entered everyday life with Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant, bringing voice-activated AI to smartphones and smart homes.

The 2020s ushered in a generative AI revolution with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and China’s DeepSeek, demonstrating unprecedented capabilities in conversation, coding, and reasoning.

These innovations highlight AI chatbots’ transformation from experimental programs into influential tools shaping global communication, business, and technology landscapes.