PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Roberto Pieraccini

Also known as Pieraccini Roberto

Roberto Pieraccini is an electrical engineer and author whose research covers statistical natural language understanding and spoken dialog management. He became director of the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley in 2012. He wrote two MIT Press books, The Voice in the Machine (2012) and AI Assistants (2021), the second a nontechnical account of voice assistants. ISCA named him a Fellow in 2009, and the IEEE made him a Fellow in 2010. As of October 2026, he works independently in advanced AI consulting and writing, having left Uniphore in 2026.

Now at
Uniphore
Works
150
Citations
3,781
h-index
32

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 15 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1980

    An electrical engineering degree

    He earns an electrical engineering degree from the University of Pisa in 1980.

  2. 1981–1995

    CSELT, then Bell Labs

    He works at CSELT in Italy from 1981 to 1989, then at Bell Labs in New Jersey from 1990 to 1995.

  3. 2005–2012

    From SpeechCycle to ICSI

    He serves as chief technology officer at SpeechCycle from 2005 to 2011. In 2012 he becomes director of the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley.

  4. 2009–2016

    Fellow of ISCA and IEEE

    ISCA names him a Fellow in 2009, and the IEEE elevates him to Fellow in 2010 for contributions to statistical natural language understanding and spoken dialog management and learning. In 2016 he receives the PrimiDieci USA award, sponsored by the Italian-American Chamber of Commerce.

  5. 2012–2021

    Two MIT Press books

    MIT Press publishes his book The Voice in the Machine in 2012. In 2021 it publishes AI Assistants, a nontechnical account of the technologies behind voice assistants.

  6. 2018–2022

    Jibo, then Google

    Before Google, he directs advanced conversational technologies at Jibo. In March 2018 he joins Google in Zurich, and in July 2022 he moves to New York as director of engineering for the Natural Language Processing Team in the Google Assistant.

  7. May 2023

    Chief scientist at Uniphore

    In May 2023 he joins Uniphore as its chief scientist. By September 2024 he is vice president, chief scientist, and head of the Artificial Intelligence Team there.

  8. Since 2026

    Independent AI consulting and writing

    He leaves Uniphore in 2026 to pursue independent work in advanced AI consulting and writing.

Sources and credits

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  1. Roberto Pieraccini - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 15 October 2026.
  2. Interview with Dr. Roberto Pieraccini, Director of the International Computer Science Institute (ICSI) at Berkeley, USA dl.gi.de. Checked 15 October 2026.
  3. ISCA - ISCA Fellow Program isca-speech.org. Checked 15 October 2026.
  4. IEEE - Fellow Class of 2010 web.archive.org. Checked 15 October 2026.
  5. books — Roberto Pieraccini robertopieraccini.com. Checked 15 October 2026.
  6. Roberto Pieraccini Celebrated for Dedication to the Field of Artificial Intelligence 24-7pressrelease.com. Checked 15 October 2026.