Jean-Louis Dessalles (born in 1956 in Périgueux) is a French computer scientist and researcher in artificial intelligence and cognitive science, professor à Télécom Paris (Paris).
He is currently Professor of Computer Science at Télécom Paris, which is part of the University of Paris-Saclay.
Jean-Louis Dessalles focuses on the quest for fundamental principles underlying the language faculty and its biological origins.
His contribution to Simplicity theory was to show that complexity drop predicts narrative interest.
On the issue of human language evolutionary origins, he found that Costly signalling theory can explain how honest communication is possible among selfish agents.