PeopleofSuperintelligence

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Rollo Carpenter

Rollo Carpenter is a British computer scientist who developed a chatbot that learns from conversation. At 16, he programmed a talking bot; he put Jabberwacky online in 1997 and won two Loebner Prizes with his bots. In 2008, he co-founded Existor; Cleverbot won a 2010 BCS prize and scored 59.3% human in a live Turing test in 2011. He co-authored a 2020 review on chatbots for language learning, published the science-fiction novel Versality in 2021, and co-wrote MACHINEHOOD with an LLM in 2024. He remains the creator of Cleverbot, which continues to learn from user conversations as of October 2026.

Born
1965
Works
7
Citations
601
h-index
4
Badges

Years link to their sources. Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1981–1997

    Jabberwacky learns from users

    At 16 in 1981, he spends his savings on a 1K microcomputer and programs games and a bot to talk to. In 1988, he sees how a feedback loop can make a chat program learn. Jabberwacky.com goes online in 1997 with 20,000 entries from Carpenter and his friends.

  2. 2005–2006

    Two Loebner Prize wins

    His bots win the Loebner Prize in 2005 and 2006.

  3. 2008

    Co-founding Existor

    He co-founds London-based Existor with Keith Harrison in 2008, building AI for natural-language conversations.

  4. 2010–2011

    A BCS prize and Turing test

    A special version of Cleverbot wins the BCS Machine Intelligence Competition in 2010 after a quick-fire Turing test. In 2011, the British computer scientist's bot scores 59.3% human in a live Turing test, based on 1,334 judges' votes.

  5. 2014

    Parallel processing for Cleverbot

    In 2014, Cleverbot is re-engineered to use parallel processing. Carpenter describes plans for a more semantic Cleverbot 2.0.

  6. 2020–2021

    Language-learning bots and Versality

    In 2020, he co-authors a Language Learning & Technology review about bots as language-learning partners. His science-fiction novel Versality is published in 2021.

  7. 2024

    Co-writing MACHINEHOOD

    In June 2024, he co-writes MACHINEHOOD with an LLM trained on almost 20 years of Cleverbot data.

  8. As of October 2026

    Cleverbot keeps learning

    He is the creator of Cleverbot, a live AI that continues to learn from user conversations.

Most-cited works

  1. Bots as language learning tools2006 · Language learning & technology · 278 citations
  2. Bots for language learning now: Current and future directions2020 · Language learning & technology · 234 citations
  3. EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES Bots as Language Learning Tools2006 · 68 citations
  4. Computing Machinery and the Individual: the Personal Turing Test2005 · 21 citations
  5. Building a human-like conversational android based on large amount of chat data2012 · IEICE Technical Report; IEICE Tech. Rep. · 0 citationsWith Hiroshi Ishiguro

From OpenAlex, as of 21 October 2026.

  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

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  1. Versality - a novel by Rollo Carpenter - metaverse science fiction versality.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. Cleverbot - Machine Intelligence Prize 2010 - BCS cleverbot.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. Talk time: Rollo Carpenter theguardian.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. Games acquire the art of conversation theguardian.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. Google’s Acquisition Of DeepMind Could Shine A Light On Other British AI Startups techcrunch.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. BCS SGAI Home Page bcs-sgai.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  7. Highest score in a live Turing test guinnessworldrecords.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  8. Turing Test: The bots are not amused - A Cleverbot Press Release, June 2014 cleverbot.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  9. Bots for language learning now: Current and future directions lltjournal.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  10. MACHINEHOOD, a very short story cleverbot.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  11. Cleverbot.com - a clever bot - speak to AI with some Actual Intelligence? cleverbot.com. Checked 20 October 2026.