Abstract: The question "Are machines able to think?" risen in 1950 by Alan Turing (1912-1954) contributed to the revival of the myth of thinking machines for the computer age. 16 years later Joseph Weizenbaum (1923-2008) developed a computer program in the USA which became popular as the simulation of a psychotherapist. This program caused enormous sensation and also motivated other computer experts to develop similar programs which today run in the Internet as Chat bot and as Artificial Intelligence simulate human communicators. - In the sixties the idea of the "Simulation of a Psychotherapist" seemed to be eccentric. Since the nineties, however, online-offers with a psychotherapeutic matter of concern have been established in the Internet dynamically and thus provoke the question with substance: "Has the simulation of a psychotherapist already come very close?" - Searching an answer the author first discusses the available psychotherapeutic online-offers, and then presents and establishes the terms of construction and the possibilities of Artificial Intelligence in the virtual spectrum of psychotherapeutic services.

Hücker, Franz-Josef

Psychotherapie Forum Vol 16(3) 2008 Springer Wien, 128-135, 2008