It recorded every input/output pair from users over time and eventually reached the point where, instead of generating a random response, it would simply search for the most similar A→B pair and return that output to the user, creating the illusion of intelligence.
If you’re familiar with the magician Derren Brown, there’s a good comparison: when he appeared to play competitively against nine very strong English chess players simultaneously. It’s like that.
https://en.chessbase.com/post/derren-brown-s-che-trick-once-...
I'm so ancient I mistakenly linked it mentally with SmarterChild.