David Levy

Schachgroßmeister & Buchautor

David's career started in 1967 at the University of Glasgow Computer Science Department, where he taught computer programming, before becoming a professional chess player and writer. He was twice Scottish Chess Champion and was awarded the title of International Master in 1969. 

David's combined interests in chess and computers led him into the field of Artificial Intelligence where he has made his "home" ever since. In 1977 he was recruited by Texas Instruments to lead the development of a chess program, since when he has developed the software and electronics for more than 100 consumer electronic "thinking" products. More recently David has been highly successful in the field of human-computer conversation, and has twice won (in 1997 and 2009) the prestigious Loebner Prize, a kind of world championship competition for the best conversational software. 

Away from mainstream commercial business, David is President of the International Computer Games Association, a mainly academic organisation dedicated to the programming of chess and other strategy games. In 1992 and 1994 he was co-organiser of the Man versus Machine World Draughts Championship matches in London and Boston respectively, where "Chinook" became the first computer program to win a human world championship, a feat recognised in the Guinness Book of World Records.  

David holds a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Maastricht for a thesis entitled Intimate Relationships with Artificial Partners. His latest book, Love and Sex with Robots, was published by Harper Collins in New York in November 2007 and has since been translated into Spanish, Hebrew and Korean.