I just signed a petition calling for Norwegian universities to use research expertise on AI when deciding how to implement it, rather than having decisions be made mostly administratively. , If you are a researcher in Norway, please read it and sign it if you agree – and share with anyone else who might be interested. The petition was written by three researchers at UiT: Maria Danielsen (a philosopher who completed her PhD in 2025 on AI and ethics, including discussions of art and working life), Knut Ørke (Norwegian as a second language), and Holger Pötzsch (a professor of media studies with many years of research on digital media, video games, disruption, and working life, among other topics). This is not about preventing researchers from exploring AI methods in their research. It is about not uncritically accepting the hype that everyone must use AI everywhere without critical reflection. It is about not introducing Copilot as the default option in word processors, or training PhD candidates to believe they will fall behind if they do not use AI when writing articles, without proper academic discussion. Changes like these should be knowledge-based and discussed academically, not merely decided administratively, because they alter the epistemological foundations of research. Maria wrote to me a couple of months ago because she had read my opinion piece in Aftenposten in which I called for a strong brake on the use of language models in knowledge work. She was part of a committee tasked with developing UiT’s AI strategy and was concerned because there was so much hype and so few members of the committee with actual expertise in AI. I fully support the petition. There are probably some good uses for AI in research, but the uncritical, hype-driven insistence that we must simply adopt it everywhere is highly risky. There are many researchers in Norway with strong expertise in AI, language, ethics, working life, and culture. We must make use of this expertise. This is also partly about respect for research in the humanities, social sciences, psychology, and law. Introducing AI at universities and university colleges is not merely a technical issue, and perhaps not even primarily a technical one. It concerns much more: philosophy of science, methodological reflection, epistemology, writing, publishing, the working environment, and more. […]
chuck tryon
Interesting news….U.S. presidential candidate, Gary Hart, has also started a blog, and it’s certainly been valuable so far (I’m much more likely to vote for him b/c of his blog, both because of the fact of his blogging and the content). I’m still not quite sure how to interpret them, but I’m intrigued by celebrity bloggers, the way they end up negotiating public/private relations.
Jill
Here’s the link to Gary Hart’s blog, btw: http://www.garyhartnews.com/hart/blog/. I’m interested in how reading his blog makes him seem to much more real to me than other politicians. The first person voice isn’t used that often in politics – or at least not in this continuous, personal manner.
chuck tryon
I think that’s my reaction, too. His blog has given me a slightly greater sense of “participation” (or at least potential participation) in the formulation of his platform, especially through that use of first person and the existence of the comments section.
Sorry I didn’t include the URL. I’m still developing my HTML/blogging skills (keeping a blog is helping immensely), so I was quite sure how/if that would work in the comments section.
Det perfekta tomrummet
Bloggande exminister
Ny politikerblogg: Paul Nyrup Rasmussen. Lite roligare ‰n de e-postdistribuerade veckobrev som vÂra svenska politiker kˆr med … [L‰nk via