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. […]
Lisa
Yes, she’s wandofel.
Jill
🙂
Thomas
My son had his first e-mail account when he was 6 hours old. Have not used it once in the last four years the ungrateful little luddite. Have started showing an interest now though… when he pulled our HP ink-jet printer apart he said, as an excuse, “I was looking for where the e-mail comes from”. As if beeig so charming will save him (actually it does, all the time) One day when he is finishing his theis I®ll pull the plug and say “Oh, sorry I didn@t know you where working on something important” HAH! That will teach him. Maybe he will read this and repent in time…
Alex
Plus she has the uncanny mutant ability to control the weather. What could be better.
Jill
Looking for where the email comes from! Hehe.
And the weather. Ah, yes. Such a pity her express fondness for tropical weather (“I like Malaysia best, mummy”) is combatted almost daily by this unconscious desire she appears to have for cold, windy, rainy Bergen weather. Mind you she’s doing OK this week. I don’t think she’s yet figured out how to control the rising of the sun, because the sun in teh last six years and eleven months has just been totally obedient to tradition, but no doubt she’ll work it out. Has to, with a name like that.
Jill
Oh my goodness. More mail. Aurora’s third email is obviously written with no spelling assistence at all:
Helo how ar you wen im not god jest now be kos wen i went to rit theis mesinj to you then i bumpt mi tu su had theat a bit ov mi skin went of and it started to blid theats wi idont fiold god
(Translation: Hello, how are you? I’m not good just now because when I went to write this message to you then I bumped my toe so hard that a bit of my skin when off and it started to bleed. Thats why I don’t feel good.)
The rest of the email was ascii art.
OK, I’m going to stop posting all her email now 🙂 I’m just so amazed – you know, first you have a baby, then suddenly the baby can TALK and tell you how she feels and you’re just flabbergasted. Now she can WRITE and even send me emails! She really truly is a person all of her own. It’s so cool! (Yes I’m a mother.)
Jill
Huh? If that last comment was a joke, wouldn’t the email have kind of looked different to the regular 419 spams?