Long before the current kerfuffle about LLMs, Generative AI Artwork, and asking your tax preparation chatbot for a cookie recipe, the concept of artificial intelligence was a pervasive theme in creative works. This history spans from Rossum’s Universal Robots to dystopian empires, driving modern design through humanity's curiosity about synthetic minds.

The Internet Archive presents the Vintage Artificial Intelligence collection, featuring emulated software from the 1970s through the 1990s. These programs do not actually think; instead, they portray the idea of thinking machines on microcomputers and game consoles, offering the experience of playing with autonomous virtual entities.

A prime example is Joseph Wizenbaum’s ELIZA, named after Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion. Its DOCT OR script mimicked an interested psychologist, leading users to open up as if talking to a real person. Despite Wizenbaum’s warnings about over-assumptions, it became a successful gimmick, ported to platforms like Apple II, Radio Shack Color Computer, Palmpilot, and Atari 800.