# ‘Searching for SmarterChild’ Kickstarter

> Source: <https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/smarterchild/searching-for-smarterchild-a-feature-documentary/creator>
> Published: 2026-07-08 20:02:10+00:00

After my reading my [posts earlier today](https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/07/08/) about ELIZA, the first “hit” chatbot from the 1960s, DF reader *AP* sent me a link to the Kickstarter page for *Searching for SmarterChild*, a project from documentary filmmakers Lindsey Sitz and Zan Gillies to make a movie about SmarterChild, an AOL Instant Messenger chatbot that once had 30 million “friends” (a.k.a. users). I don’t recall ever hearing of SmarterChild before, let alone using it. (I think I was on a very different level of the Internet back then.)

But this looks like a great indie nerd documentary. The Kickstarter campaign has just one week left and they’re a wee bit short of their primary goal, and quite a bit short of their stretch goals. I just chipped in. Maybe you should too.