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. […]
Eivind
Congratulations with your new computer – hope it has understood how you like it by now 🙂
Jon
Lucky you! You probably got Panther installed when you bought it. I bought mine 5 days too early to get on that wagon 🙁
Henning
A friend of mine just got his 12 inch from Apple. It looks really, really good! I was surprised to see that it is even smaller than the iBook. Sturdy case. Cool design.
One can’t help but feel materialistic and perhaps a bit shallow, but having a new mac is satisfying! That is how I feel about it anyways. Don’t know how others feel about it…
jon
I have one of these and it’s a fabulous workhorse. It does get a bit hot on the left-hand side. But under Panter I am getting battery times of over 3.5 hours.
It’s great using the PB in the classroom. I tend to use Tinderbox for seminar work, negotiating my way around material in Map View. It’s much more flexible for teaching Literature, essay writing, and Creative Writing than Keynote or Word.