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. […]
Eirik
Jill, you have earned yourself the coveted title of “web geek”. Head over to Thinkgeek.com and get yourself a T-shirt this very moment! After having outed yourself as the local MT expert, I think you’ll find http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/frustrations/388b/ especially helpful. Spring is here too, BTW. Just the thing I need today, what with several broken deadlines and two apartments in a total state of chaos…
Elin
…but what did you do? Did you install movable type for them?
tormodh
Heh. I’m wearing that t-shirt right now. Put it on yesterday eve, after my daughter tried to eat the shoulder off of my then resident, blue, one.
I guess Peppes just served as a “PayPal” substitute; being the one to do the transaction between ‘client’ and ‘geek’.
Jill
I trouble-shooted and fixed a not-quite-functional installation of MoveableType for Thomas, and I’ll be linking to his blog once he gives me the OK – I’m not sure if it’s quite official yet?
alan mccallum
Yep!
I did a bit of paid work during the work too. I moved a modem from non-functioning network to a stand-alone machine and –eventually– got the family back online for emails. My network guru, and this network’s guru too, are currently in Yemen. Fee? A nice bowl of homemade soup.
Cheers
Alan
Jill
I’d often take homemade soup over pizza actually 🙂
Thomas
N? kan du fortelle verden om bibliotekarens bibliotek. Bloggen funker, selv om jeg ikke helt har fÂtt taket p Trackback ennÂ. Vi fÂr ta en ny tur p Peppes.
sinnabloggen!
Datanerder og andre nerder
Flere en meg er opptatt av dette med  vÊre eller ikke vÊre nerd. Mari ser p betegnelsen datanerd som