Please note this is just a project to show the conversational possibilities of AI. Do not use it thinking that you will get actual therapy. AI has a long way to go before it can replace a therapist. This project is a vastly simplified version of a famous program called ELIZA/Doctor that was developed at MIT in the early 1960s by Professor Joseph Weizenbaum. The program engages in a "conversation" with the computer user, in which it mimics a non-directive style of psychotherapy. The ELIZA project won the 2022 Foundational Peabody Award. https://www.csail.mit.edu/news/eliza-wins-peabody-award
Thanks to MIT Profs. Hal Abelson and Gerry Sussman's "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs" (SICP). Thanks to Wellesley Prof. Franklyn Turbak for sending me the 1985 SICP version of the project. Thanks to Ken Lambert's "Fundamentals of Python". Thanks to Scratch team for the wiki "Replacing a Substring in a String": https://en.scratch-wiki.info/wiki/Replacing_a_Substring_in_a_String Thanks to wired for the bot gif: https://www.wired.com/2017/06/facebook-messenger-woebot-chatbot-therapist/
