We’ve all been there — you’re on-call, fast asleep at 3 AM when suddenly, in comes the alerts–in overdrive. Your system is notifying you of some sort of abnormal behavior, but with all the alerts and data coming through, its difficult to figure out what your system is trying to tell you. Is there potential malicious behavior? Did someone write faulty code? Is it an important issue or can it wait? Is it nothing at all?

Netflix recommends Stranger Things to you because it knows you like watching sci-fi thrillers. Tinder lets you swipe right into your next date because it’s learned your interests and partner preferences. Amazon keeps showing you Fitbit because you’ve spent a considerable amount of time browsing through the fitness and wellness category.

Computer programs that talk to people aren’t new. The natural language processing program ELIZA , which played the role of a digital psychologist, first debuted way back in 1966. This early chatbot was capable of “listening” to you as you shared your life story, delivering mostly coherent, yet vague canned responses to whatever you typed in.