PeopleofSuperintelligence

Builder

Juergen Pirner

Also known as Jürgen Pirner

Juergen Pirner created Jabberwock, a chatbot inspired by Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky; a 2001 NAUTILUS special issue and CD-ROM covered robots and AI. Jabberwock wins the 2003 Loebner Prize with a talking-dragon persona that uses pattern matching and keyword spotting. Its response file grows past one million entries by 2005 and reaches 2.7 million by 2007. Pirner moves from teaching in Hanover to editing ZauberZeit, then serves as publisher and editor-in-chief of NAUTILUS in May 2010; the magazine wins a 2011 Deutscher Phantastik Preis for Best Secondary Work. In July 2016, he announces the end of print publication after the final NAUTILUS issue, number 141, appears at the end of 2015.

Timeline

  1. 1980s

    Editing ZauberZeit

    In the 1980s, Pirner teaches at a gymnasium in Hanover as a temporary teacher. He then becomes editor-in-chief of ZauberZeit, replacing its first editor, Dieter Schmidt.

  2. 2001

    An AI special issue

    A NAUTILUS special issue with a CD-ROM focuses on robots and AI. Jabberwock's development draws on the Jabberwocky creature from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.

  3. 2003

    Winning the Loebner Prize

    At the October 2003 Loebner Prize contest at the University of Surrey, Jabberwock wins as the highest-ranked chatbot. Pirner creates the bot with pattern matching and keyword spotting within a strong talking-dragon character.

  4. By 2005

    A million responses

    By 2005, Jabberwock's brain file contains more than one million responses, and its CGI program runs on a web server.

  5. 2007

    2.7 million responses

    By 2007, Pirner has taught Jabberwock 2.7 million responses.

  6. 2010

    Publisher and editor

    In May 2010, Pirner serves as publisher and editor-in-chief of the monthly fantasy magazine NAUTILUS. He also programs artificial intelligence.

  7. 2011

    NAUTILUS wins Best Secondary Work

    NAUTILUS wins the Deutscher Phantastik Preis for Best Secondary Work in 2011.

  8. 2016

    NAUTILUS ends print publication

    In July 2016, Pirner announces that NAUTILUS ends print publication as its publisher. Its final print issue, number 141, appears at the end of 2015.

Career

  1. 2010–2016NautilusPublisher and Editor-in-Chief
  2. ZauberZeitEditor-in-Chief

From the biography.

  1. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI each year from 1955 to 2025, tracing the shift from university labs to companies.
  2. The United States employs an estimated 48% of people shaping AIWe estimate where the people shaping AI work today, how universities, companies and research institutes split across countries, and how country shares have changed since the 1960s.
  3. 43% of living people shaping AI work outside their country of birthWe estimate that 43% of living people shaping AI work outside their country of birth (520 of 1,198 people with known birth and employment countries).
  4. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionWe 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.

Sources and credits

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

  1. ZauberZeit - Wikipedia de.wikipedia.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Interview mit Jürgen Pirner von der NAUTILUS - Darkstars Fantasy News fantasy-news.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Nautilus (Magazin) - Wikipedia de.wikipedia.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Human possibilities | Technology | The Guardian theguardian.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Juergen Pirner botmaster of the chatterbot "Jabberwock" - AgentLand web.archive.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Juergen Pirner - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. "Nautilus": Printausgabe eingestellt phantastiknews.de. Checked 21 October 2026.