system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Where did the F1-12 keys on a keyboard come from?
gpt
Function keys originate from the late 60's as a way for the user to quickly give commands to a program. Unlike other keyboard keys the function keys do not have a specific purpose, what they do will change between different programs. These keys were, and still are, very helpful when a user is in a text only environment. Instead of remembering specific commands those commands can be mapped to the function keys.

Function keys are less useful when using a graphic user interface (GUI), but are still used along with keyboard shortcuts. In a program that could have dozens of possible functions there's no possible way to map everything to the keyboard. A GUI allows a user to access an unlimited number of functions without needing to know specific commands to access a function.

Other keys on your keyboard also come from the 60's and 70's. Print screen would litterally print out any text on the screen. Scroll lock was used to change between moving a cursor with arrow keys and moving the text up and down with the arrow keys.