PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Phil Blunsom

Phil Blunsom is a computer scientist whose recent work focuses on algorithms that give AI the ability to understand and generate natural language. After a PhD in Melbourne and a research fellowship in Edinburgh, he joins Oxford's computer science department in 2009, and he wins a five-year EPSRC Fellowship in 2013. In 2014 he co-founds Dark Blue Labs, and Google DeepMind recruits the four co-founders. From 2014 to 2021 he leads the Natural Language research group at DeepMind London, and in 2015 he co-authors Teaching Machines to Read and Comprehend. Since 2025, he serves as chief technology officer at Cohere.

Now at
Cohere
Works
185
Citations
17,693
h-index
44

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 14 October 2026.

Photo of Phil Blunsom

Timeline

  1. 2009–2024

    Oxford computer science and St Hugh's

    After a PhD at the University of Melbourne and a research fellowship at Edinburgh, he joins Oxford's Department of Computer Science and St Hugh's College in 2009. His recent work focuses on algorithms that give AI the ability to understand and generate natural language. He leaves the Oxford post in 2024.

  2. 2013

    A five-year EPSRC Fellowship

    He wins a five-year EPSRC Fellowship in 2013.

  3. 2014

    Dark Blue Labs and DeepMind

    In 2014 he co-founds Dark Blue Labs with Nando de Freitas, Edward Grefenstette and Karl Moritz Hermann, and Google DeepMind recruits all four co-founders.

  4. 2014–2021

    Founding DeepMind's Natural Language group

    From 2014 to 2021 he founds and leads the Natural Language research group at DeepMind London.

  5. 2015

    Teaching machines to read

    In 2015 he co-authors Teaching Machines to Read and Comprehend with Karl Moritz Hermann and others, a paper on machine reading of natural language documents.

  6. Since 2025

    Chief technology officer at Cohere

    In 2025 Cohere moves him from chief scientist to chief technology officer. Its June 2026 London announcement still calls him CTO.

Sources and credits

Photo: cs.ox.ac.uk; Phil Blunsom | Department of Computer Science; creator not stated. License: Not stated by source. Source: cs.ox.ac.uk. Cropped to a square and resized. Ask us to remove or replace this photo.

  1. Phil Blunsom | Department of Computer Science cs.ox.ac.uk. Checked 14 October 2026.
  2. Fellowships abound cs.ox.ac.uk. Checked 14 October 2026.
  3. Professor Blunsom part of collaboration with Google DeepMind - St Hugh's College st-hughs.ox.ac.uk. Checked 14 October 2026.
  4. University of Oxford teams up with Google DeepMind on artificial intelligence cs.ox.ac.uk. Checked 14 October 2026.
  5. [1506.03340] Teaching Machines to Read and Comprehend arxiv.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  6. Cohere president Martin Kon steps down, moves into advisory role - The Globe and Mail theglobeandmail.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  7. Cohere Triples UK Footprint with London Office | Cohere cohere.com. Checked 14 October 2026.