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. […]
Johanka
Just wondering, which language did you acquire first – English or Norwegian? Or was is both at the same time, so you can’t tell which is the “stronger” one?
LiL
Johanka’s questions.
And then: I find it harder to translate myself (hah, I can’t even say translate my writing) than to translate others.
Jill
I learnt English first, and always spoke English at home, growing up, so English is the language of my heart and emotions. Though I spoke only Norwegian at school after I was eight, and Norwegian with almost all my friends. For the first half of my twenties I switched to almost all Norwegian, at home and at the university, but when my daughter was born I couldn’t speak anything but English to her. That’s why they call it mother tongue, I think, it’s so natural to speak to your babies in the same way as your mother spoke to you.
I’m fluent and accentless (well – mild Australian accented and strongly Bergen accented) and write like a native in both English and Norwegian, but I dream in English and think in English and now most of my professional writing is in English, and my home language is English too – so yes, English is slightly dominant, I’d say.
I’m going to have to just pretend I never got a chance to change the translation, I think.