PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Jorn Barger

Jorn Barger is a former AI research programmer whose early work explored how computers might index stories. After graduating high school a year early and attending four colleges without a degree, he programmed educational software in the 1980s and worked at Northwestern University's Institute for the Learning Sciences from 1989 to 1992. In a 1994 AI discussion, he proposed an economical story-thesaurus, then started Robot Wisdom in 1995 and coined “weblog” for its daily link list in 1997. He published blogging advice and longer posts through 2008, then described Robot Wisdom's purpose in a 2009 interview.

Timeline

  1. 1953–1973

    Early life and college

    Born in 1953, he uses a Minivac 601 at age 11 and graduates high school a year early. He attends Jamestown Community College, Antioch College, New College of Florida, and the University at Buffalo without earning a degree; in 1973, he decides against a computing career.

  2. 1980s

    Games and educational software

    During the first half of the 1980s, he programs games and educational software for Apple II, Commodore 64, and Atari 8-bit computers.

  3. 1989–1992

    AI research at Northwestern

    From 1989 to the end of 1992, he works as a research programmer at Northwestern University's Institute for the Learning Sciences under Roger Schank, an artificial intelligence researcher.

  4. 1994

    A story-indexing proposal

    In a 1994 comp.ai post, he proposes an economical story-thesaurus as a partial solution to the story-indexing problem.

  5. 1995–1999

    Robot Wisdom and the weblog

    He starts Robot Wisdom in 1995 with essays and resources on AI and other topics. In 1997, he creates the first weblog and coins the term for its daily link list; WIRED calls him an AI software designer in 1999.

  6. 2007

    Blogging advice in WIRED

    In December 2007, he publishes ten tips for bloggers in WIRED and describes his 1997 aim as making the web more transparent.

  7. 2008

    Robot Wisdom Auxiliary posts

    In 2008, he publishes longer posts on Robot Wisdom Auxiliary to supplement the Robot Wisdom link blog.

  8. 2009

    Explaining Robot Wisdom's purpose

    In a 2009 interview, he describes Robot Wisdom as a way to find readers who could see the connections among his interests.

Career

  1. 1989–1992Northwestern UniversityResearch Programmer

Education

  1. Jamestown Community College
  2. Antioch College
  3. New College of Florida
  4. University at Buffalo, State University of New York

From the biography.

  1. Of 216 AI researchers who entered public life, 83 held advisory seats and 58 took public rolesIncludes Jorn Barger. Of 216 AI researchers who entered public life, 83 held advisory seats and 58 took public roles. Another 97 people moved from public careers into AI organizations or research, with 62% of dated records starting from 2020 on.
  2. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Northwestern University. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  3. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Northwestern University. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  4. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Northwestern University. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Jorn Barger yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Jorn Barger - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. The wildest hypothesis yet... groups.google.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. Log On | WIRED wired.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. Top 10 Tips for New Bloggers From Original Blogger Jorn Barger | WIRED wired.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. Robot Wisdom auxiliary: 2008 robotwisdom2.blogspot.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. Will e-books spell the end of great writing? | Books | The Guardian theguardian.com. Checked 20 October 2026.