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. […]
Shane
Im not sure if you or your readers are aware of it or not, but there is a very interesting free online conference going on the entire month related to online communications technologies and social tools. It gets a bit technical as the month goes on, but I thought the first two weeks might interest you when you get back from your much deserved vacation.
God pÂske!
Happy Easter!
Shane
The link for the Online Conference might help 😉
Jill
Thanks, Shane, looks interesting!
Doctor Daisy » cool conferences
[…] Jill/txt also blogs about the TCC Worldwide Online Conference, which I can just log on for, so I think that’s my choice. […]
Alan
I am looking forward to hearing you present as part of TCC– I’ve been involved with the conference for a few years, done a few presentations in the past, and would be glad to answer any questions about the conference or format.
The Elluminate platform has worked very well- I have had back and forth audio with colleagues iin Australia, Europe, South America, back to here in the US. One year I did a session while standing in the hallway of a hotel in San Francisco, trying to talk over the noise of people leaving a meeting room, looking strange with my face pressed into a laptop having what must have looked like an imaginary conversation.
Anyhow, as a long time reader, I am eager to hear your ideas presented at the conference…