Eliza explores the dangers of on-demand digital therapy | Hacker News Reader

Eliza explores the dangers of on-demand digital therapy

polygon.com

90 pointscstuder11 comments

I think the name might be a nod to Eliza, the Computer therapist, first written in the 60s.

Here's an online version [0]

[0] http://psych.fullerton.edu/mbirnbaum/psych101/Eliza.htm

There's exactly zero chance it's not, which makes this review weird to read. "Eliza mostly seems to listen to its patients a bit before asking leading questions to get them to speak more. I don’t notice much insight being offered about their problems." Hardly a surprise for a machine named Eliza, since that's the exact same gambit the real Eliza chatbot uses!

(And that's not what a leading question is! A leading question is trying to provoke a specific answer, not to try and get them to speak generally. "How do you feel about that" is the opposite of a leading question)

My take is that, in the game, the Eliza software is extremely overhyped in its capabilities. As a player, you're supposed to develop the impression that it isn't what it's cracked up to be, which is part of what makes the game a rather deft criticism of how so-called "Machine Learning" is used by many real-world companies.

It's just weird to read a review that doesn't make that connection, is all.

Most people that do not work closely with computers aren't aware of how much smoke and mirrors is involved in the "real" implementations of this kind of technology. (And for that matter, a lot of people who do work with computers are in denial about it.)

I don't fault the creators at Zachtronics for taking a subtle approach to writing the game, but it's a bit of an uphill battle to raise public awareness of the limitations and outright fraud surrounding ML-based products.

The original ELIZA program is sort of a special case, since it's famous for being a lookup table consisting mostly of "and how does that make you feel?" and yet still being convincing to a subset of patients who felt helped by it. I think the author of the review just hadn't heard of ELIZA.

Context:

> Eliza, the first visual novel from Zachtronics, the developer of Exapunks and Opus Magnum, explores a reality where digital therapy and AI merge to solve healthcare at scale. It’s a departure from the studio’s other titles, which felt more like puzzle games for programmers. Instead, Zachtronics’ new title is a fully voice-acted, conversation-based story game where players role-play as a character engaged in a story that changes based on their decisions.

This is a visual novel game where you play as a human proxy for a counseling AI.

In addition to the exploration of using "AI" for counseling, Eliza also features an interesting ethical investigation; you play as the lead programmer who wrote the AI, left the company three years prior to the game's events, and is now taking an entry level job reading the AI-proscribed script to patients. The representation of tech-startup culture can be uncomfortably accurate.

If you were thinking of ignoring this simply because it's a visual novel, remember who wrote it. This is an interactive stor from Zachtronics! Eliza is a visual novel from the same people that wrote the clever "datasheet" manual in Shenzhen I/O and the "zines" in Exapunks. Zach, more than most authors, knows how to write about tech's impact on culture/society!

Just wanted to correct that Eliza is actually written by Zachtronics writer Matthew Burns, not Zach, but totally agree on the ethical investigation part.

There's a nice long (!) format discussion of this in the last two episodes of the General Intellect Unit podcast. Of course, play it first if you don't like spoilers.

http://generalintellectunit.net/e/045-eliza-part-1/

Zachtronics! He's one of my favorite game devs, I'll definitely have to pick this one up as well.

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