PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker is a Harvard psychologist who studies language and cognition, and whose research on regular and irregular verbs bears on whether artificial neural networks, including large language models, explain human intelligence. Born in Montreal in 1954, he earned a Harvard PhD in 1979 and taught at MIT from 1982 to 2003, where he co-directed the Center for Cognitive Science. In 1988, he and Alan Prince published a critique of a connectionist model of past-tense acquisition, and his 1999 book Words and Rules set out the strengths and weaknesses of artificial neural networks. His books for general readers include The Language Instinct and Enlightenment Now, and in a 2023 Harvard Gazette interview he called ChatGPT an alien intelligence capable of astonishing feats. Elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2016, he is the Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard.

Born
1954
Badges

Years link to their sources.

Timeline

  1. 1976–1979

    A Harvard PhD under Kosslyn

    Born in Montreal in 1954, he earns a BA in psychology at McGill University in 1976. He completes a PhD in experimental psychology at Harvard in 1979 under Stephen Kosslyn, with a dissertation on visual cognition.

  2. 1979–2003

    Professor at MIT

    Jay Keyser brings him to MIT as a postdoc in 1979, and he joins the MIT faculty in 1982 after one-year teaching posts at Harvard and Stanford. In the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, he co-directs the Center for Cognitive Science from 1985 to 1994 and directs the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience from 1994 to 1999.

  3. 1988

    A critique of connectionism

    In 1988, he and Alan Prince publish a critique of a connectionist model of past-tense acquisition, followed by a series of studies on how people use and acquire the past tense. His research on regular verbs like walk-walked and irregular verbs like bring-brought bears on whether artificial neural networks, including large language models, explain human intelligence.

  4. 1994–1999

    The Language Instinct

    In 1994, he publishes The Language Instinct, which presents language as a biological adaptation, followed by How the Mind Works in 1997. Words and Rules, published in 1999, uses his verb research to explain how language works and to show the strengths and weaknesses of artificial neural networks.

  5. 2003–2016

    Johnstone professor at Harvard

    After 21 years at MIT, he accepts an endowed professorship at Harvard in 2003 and becomes the Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology. Time names him among the 100 most influential people in the world in 2004, and the National Academy of Sciences elects him in 2016.

  6. 2018

    AI in the Age of Reason

    Enlightenment Now, published in 2018, argues that reason, science and humanism have improved the human condition. In October 2018, he is a guest on Lex Fridman's podcast for the episode "AI in the Age of Reason."

  7. 2023

    ChatGPT and a Frontiers award

    In a February 2023 Harvard Gazette interview, he describes ChatGPT as an alien intelligence capable of astonishing feats and calls artificial general intelligence, OpenAI's stated goal, incoherent. In March 2023, he shares the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Humanities and Social Sciences with Peter Singer for contributions on rationality.

  8. As of October 2026

    A book on common knowledge

    His thirteenth book, When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows..., appears in September 2025, and his research turns to the psychology of common knowledge. He is the Johnstone Family Professor in Harvard's Department of Psychology.

Career

  1. Since 2003Harvard UniversityTeaching post
  2. 1979–2003Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyPostdoctoral researcher, Professor
  3. Stanford UniversityTeaching post

Education

  1. 1979Harvard UniversityPhD in experimental psychology
  2. 1976McGill UniversityBA in psychology

From the biography.

Videos

YouTube videos in which Steven Pinker speaks or appears, newest first. A model chose them from YouTube search results. List updated 20 October 2026.

  1. Steven Pinker: AI in the Age of Reason | Lex Fridman Podcast #3Lex Fridman · 17 October 2018 · 38 min

Video data from YouTube API Services. By watching you agree to the YouTube Terms of Service. How we use YouTube data.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Harvard University. 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 median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes Harvard University. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.
  3. Companies supply the most prior-work hires at 7 of the 9 frontier AI labsIncludes Harvard University. Our estimates of the organizations where 550 people worked directly before joining 9 frontier AI labs across 620 career transitions, comparing the main feeder organizations per lab.
  4. 44% of AI career moves go from one university to anotherIncludes Harvard University. We estimate how 26,439 AI career moves link universities, companies, labs, nonprofits and government research centers, with decade counts, net flows and the top paths.

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 Steven Pinker yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. About | Steven Pinker stevenpinker.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. Steven Pinker - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. Harvard-bound Pinker looks back fondly over 21 years at MIT | MIT News news.mit.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. Steven Pinker: AI in the Age of Reason | Lex Fridman Podcast lexfridman.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. Will ChatGPT replace human writers? Pinker weighs in. — Harvard Gazette news.harvard.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. The Frontiers of Knowledge Award goes to Steven Pinker and Peter Singer for innovative academic contributions in the domains of rationality and moral progress that have achieved a widespread impact in the public sphere frontiersofknowledgeawards-fbbva.es. Checked 20 October 2026.