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. […]
Elin
I’m having a hard time understanding why people think that what they write in their blogs won’t have (legal) consequences. Off-line, we donít always tell everybody the same story, and this way, there is much more ambiguity about why things were said, if it was said at all, and the actual context around it. But our audience is bigger online, and may include unexpected or maybe even unwelcome readers far into the future. It is a can of worms, I know, but I do believe that if you write it, you HAVE to accept that people will interpret it one way or the other. In this, there is a risk that someone will make a conclusion that may end up hurting you.
Besides Ö arenít we supposed to write the truth in our academic papersÖ? Now Iím all confused:-)
Jill
Ah, but there’s truth and there’s truth. Look at a blog like Oblivio – do you believe every story there? That one he told last year, for instance, about finding photos of an ex-girlfriend on a porn site? Nah, that was fiction. Perhaps. Do you think that I really played the G minor concerto at full blast at Troldhaugen? Perhaps I just thought about it? Perhaps it never occurred to me as a possibility until years after I worked there – if I worked there – when I was writing that story? Do you think Kaycee Nicole should have had a phone call from the IRS, asking her to pay duty on all the gifts she received from “friends”? Should we assume that William Gibson does amphetamine because he’s described it so convincingly in his novels? Or that The Unknown are heroin addicts because they use their own names in a fiction? Maybe not.
Academic papers are different, I’ll agree with that, and perhaps I shouldn’t have grouped them together with fiction and semi-fiction like that. There is, however, a good solid tradition of using thought experiments (Einstein..) and anecdotes and examples in academic literature in literature that aren’t true in the actual world. We do generally mark them as such though, rhetorically.
And of course: if you blog, people will read it. Such is life.
HÂkon Styri
“Because we always write the truth and nothing but the truth in term papers and blogs, don’t we?”
Probably not, but remember that term papers may be graded and blogs mey be read by people with no sense of humour.
You should also note that many people regard written statements as more significant than oral statements. One issue regarding electronic communication is that the style often is quite oral, though the words and emoticons are in writing.
Makes you think twice about employing a casual blogging style, doesn’t it?
Jill
I think that’s an important issue about blogs, HÂkon – they’re so changing and yes, closer to something oral than to the permanence of print. Hm.
Francois Lachance
There are some contexts where giving one’s word is a highly charged event. There are some cultures that value the spoken as witnessed above the written broken treaties…
The truth function hinges on a certain performativity in interpreting the record. The skillful interpretations of various contexts of past productions lead to communicative care (and abandon) in various future situations.
The oral/written distinction becomes moot when one considers the unit of the spell as the word. One great touchstone for cross-cultural considerations of the efficacy of glyphs and vocables is Jerome Rothenberg’s Technicians of the Sacred.
If one knows one is handling fire by manipulating language, then one can be wary and aware.
Creativity Machine
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cluster sweet cluster
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