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. […]
Lars
In one of my favorite comic books, Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s “V for Vendetta”, the main character is a terrorist in a Guy Fawkes costume who – in a near-future fascist Britain – blows up the parliament.It was written during Thatcher’s reign in Britain and, ironically, Moore writes in his foreword about how he considers abandoning his native Britain in favor of the US: “It’s cold and it’s mean spirited and I don’t like it here anymore”. Sound familiar?
Norman
It was a popular event in the 40s in Australia, and according to my family had “always” been a fun day here with no other dimension to it. Mine was a largely Irish descended ghetto, but no one gave a thought to any sectarian/dissent ideas.
Dad used to joke about Guy Fawkes being the only man to ever enter politics with honourable intentions, but I do recall my mates giving him strange looks at this.
But in this postmodern age, traditions don’t need to be more than one day old to be taken up.