PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Pietro Torasso

Also known as Piero Torasso

Pietro Torasso was a computer scientist whose research covered natural-language processing, model-based diagnosis and group recommendations. With Leonardo Lesmo, he coauthored a two-level language parser in 1983 and helped start AI research in Torino. AI*IA formed in Rome with about 60 founding members in 1988, and Torasso took part from its founding; he led the association from 1995 to 1999. In 1991, he coauthored an abductive-diagnosis paper, and in 2002 he coauthored INTRIGUE, a guided-tour recommender. He retired in autumn–winter 2016 and died suddenly on Christmas Day in 2016 at 65; his family and AI*IA created a short-video prize in his name in 2018.

Works
164
Citations
2,498
h-index
24
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1983

    A two-level language parser

    With Leonardo Lesmo, he publishes “A Flexible Natural Language Parser Based on a Two-Level Representation of Syntax” at the first EACL conference in Pisa in 1983. One of Torino's first computer-science graduates, he also helps start AI research there with Lesmo on natural-language processing.

  2. 1988

    AI*IA starts in Rome

    About 60 founding members form the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence (AI*IA) in Rome in 1988. Torasso takes part in AI*IA from its founding.

  3. 1991

    Abductive diagnosis in Palermo

    In 1991, he coauthors “Towards the Integration of Different Knowledge Sources in Model-Based Diagnosis” with Luca Console and Daniele Theseider Dupré for the second AI*IA congress in Palermo. The paper brings together behavioral models, constraints and taxonomic relationships in abductive model-based diagnosis. His medical expert-systems work grows into more complex diagnostic reasoning, and he creates a Torino diagnosis group with international visibility.

  4. 1995–1999

    President of AI*IA

    He leads AI*IA from 1995 to 1999. Amedeo Cesta serves as the association's secretary during his presidency and recalls him as a supporter of Italian AI.

  5. 2002

    The INTRIGUE tour recommender

    In 2002, with Liliana Ardissono, Anna Goy, Giovanna Petrone and Marino Segnan, he coauthors INTRIGUE, an adaptive recommender system for guided tours. Its group model tracks the preferences of different participant subgroups separately, then combines them to find recommendations that suit the group.

  6. 2016

    Retirement and death

    He retires in autumn–winter 2016 and dies suddenly on Christmas Day in 2016 at 65. For years, he heads Torino's Department of Computer Science and its computer-science degree course.

  7. By 2016

    An ECCAI Fellowship

    By 2016, he is an ECCAI Fellow.

  8. 2018–2020

    The Pietro Torasso Prize

    In 2018, his family and AI*IA establish the Pietro Torasso Prize for videos of up to five minutes that show AI techniques to a non-specialist audience. Simone Marullo of the University of Siena wins the 2018 prize for DeepHarvest; at the AIxIA 2020 conference, PhD student Williams Rizzi receives a special mention in the PhD-student edition.

Career

  1. From 1988Italian Association for Artificial IntelligencePresident, Founding member
  2. 1983–2015University of Turin

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. Intrigue: Personalized recommendation of tourist attractions for desktop and hand held devices2003 · Applied Artificial Intelligence · 384 citations
  2. On the Relationship Between Abduction and Deduction1991 · Journal of Logic and Computation · 241 citations
  3. A spectrum of logical definitions of model‐based diagnosis11991 · Computational Intelligence · 236 citations
  4. User Modeling and Recommendation Techniques for Personalized Electronic Program Guides2004 · Human-computer interaction series · 129 citations
  5. A theory of diagnosis for incomplete causal models1989 · 124 citations

From OpenAlex, as of 21 October 2026.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of Turin. 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.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes University of Turin. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.

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 Pietro Torasso yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. A Flexible Natural Language Parser Based on a Two-Level Representation of Syntax - ACL Anthology aclanthology.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Pietro Torasso (AI*IA mailing list) groups.google.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Piero Torasso – Notiziole di .mau. xmau.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Associazione Italiana per l'Intelligenza Artificiale - Wikipedia it.wikipedia.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Aixia | Storia aixia.it. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Towards the integration of different knowledge sources in model-based diagnosis - University of Eastern Piedmont research.uniupo.it. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. UNIFIND - UNITO - Tailoring the recommendation of tourist information to heterogeneous user groups unifind.unito.it. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. E' morto a 65 anni Piero Torasso, uno dei pionieri italiani dell'intelligenza artificiale - Torino Digitale web.quotidianopiemontese.it. Checked 21 October 2026.
  9. Aixia | Popularize artificial intelligence 2018 premio pietro torasso aixia.it. Checked 21 October 2026.
  10. Simone Marullo Awarded with Pietro Torasso Prize from AI*IA – SAILab sailab.diism.unisi.it. Checked 21 October 2026.
  11. Popularize Artificial Intelligence - Spread Your Results! - FBK MAGAZINE magazine.fbk.eu. Checked 21 October 2026.