PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Thomas Bolander

Thomas Bolander is a professor of logic and artificial intelligence at DTU Compute whose research explores how AI agents model other agents’ beliefs and perspectives. He earned civil-engineering and doctoral degrees at DTU and coauthored a 2020 study that implements theory-of-mind reasoning on a humanoid robot. His 2019 book explored the social abilities expected of future AI systems, and his epistemic-planning work led to the AEDALUS planner in a 2025 conference paper. He received the H. C. Ørsted Silver Medal for science communication in 2019 and the Nordic DAIR Lifetime Achievement in AI award in 2024.

Born
1972

Years link to their sources.

Timeline

  1. 1999–2004

    DTU degree and doctorate

    He graduates from DTU with a civil engineering degree in 1999 and completes a PhD in logic there in 2004.

  2. 2011–2014

    LearningLab DTU developer

    From 2011 to 2014, he works as an educational developer at LearningLab DTU and helps develop and teach DTU’s Education in University Teaching.

  3. 2018

    Theory of mind in AI

    In a 2018 DTU Compute talk, he explains that AI agents must take the perspective of other agents to collaborate with people and other systems.

  4. 2019

    Professor, book and medal

    He becomes a professor of logic and artificial intelligence at DTU Compute in 2019 and publishes the book Hvordan ser fremtiden ud med kunstig intelligens?, about the social abilities future AI systems need to work with people. He receives the H. C. Ørsted Silver Medal for science communication in 2019.

  5. 2020

    Perspective-taking on a robot

    With Lasse Dissing Hansen, he publishes a 2020 paper on a dynamic epistemic logic system implemented on a humanoid robot. The robot reasons about other agents’ beliefs and passes false-belief tasks.

  6. 2024

    A Nordic AI lifetime award

    He receives the 2024 Nordic DAIR Lifetime Achievement in AI award.

  7. 2024–2025

    Depth-bounded epistemic planning

    With Alessandro Burigana and Marco Montali, he proposes an epistemic-planning algorithm with bounded reasoning depth in a 2024 preprint. The work appears in the 2025 proceedings of the International Conference on Principles of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning and implements the AEDALUS planner.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor at DTU Compute

    As of October 2026, he is a professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science at DTU Compute, where he researches logic and artificial intelligence.

Career

  1. Since 2011Technical University of DenmarkEducational developer, Professor of logic and artificial intelligence

Education

  1. 2004Technical University of DenmarkPhD in logic
  2. 1999Technical University of DenmarkCivil engineering degree

From the biography.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Technical University of Denmark. 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 Technical University of Denmark. 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. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Technical University of Denmark. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  4. 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.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Professor Thomas Bolander turns 50 dtu.dk. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. Thomas Bolander dtu.dk. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. Theory of Mind in Artificial Intelligence: Agents Modelling Other Agents dtu.dk. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. Hvordan ser fremtiden ud med kunstig intelligens? orbit.dtu.dk. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. Winners 2024 - Nordic DAIR Awards 2026 dairawards.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. Implementing Theory of Mind on a Robot Using Dynamic Epistemic Logic orbit.dtu.dk. Checked 20 October 2026.
  7. Depth-Bounded Epistemic Planning arxiv.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  8. Depth-Bounded Epistemic Planning orbit.dtu.dk. Checked 20 October 2026.
  9. Thomas Bolander - Welcome to DTU Research Database orbit.dtu.dk. Checked 20 October 2026.