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. […]
Sheila Webber
I can’t resist adding my experience when buying a laptop at a major UK chain (PC World) 6 months ago. In fact I was accompanied by my husband, but he kept quiet throughout the interaction with the sales people, and the only good thing they did was NOT address their remarks to him.
1) We looked at the laptops. One looked pretty good value for what it was (I’d been comparing prices on the net) and I was keen to get it there and then.
2) I told the assistant “I’d like that one” He went and fetched it.
3) We sat down and he took some details. He then started into a spiel telling me about insurance options in case the laptop went wrong and I cut him off before he could finish it, saying I wasn’t interested. He’d shown me onscreen what the prices were – several hundred pounds for three years – and they seemed to me excessive. The first year is covered anyway, and after that you start to think – if I’m paying 300 or 400 pounds, I could put that to a new computer. And the chances are that it WON’T go wrong in the first 3 years. The assistant gabbled through the rest of his spiel anyway and then left us for a moment.
3) He came back with his manager. The manager said that I shouldn’t dismiss the insurance options so lightly and started to go through them again, talking to me as if I knew nothing about computers, and must be refusing the insurance because I was ignorant. Again I said firmly that I wasn’t interested, I just wanted to pay for the laptop. At this point the manager made the classic remark that “If it goes wrong, it isn’t like fixing a dishwasher, you know”. Ironically, I don’t actually have a dishwasher, but I HAVE been using computers for (gulp) over 20 years now. At no point did anyone ask about my own level of expertise. At this point I was ready to say “Stuff your computer” but they did actually give up then, and I did want to get the computer that day, so I just paid and went. I assume they make their money out of frightening people into taking out overpriced insurance.
I enjoy your blog, by the way
Sheila
David
DOes this mean they bought more, or perhaps just paid more?
Jill
Oh good grief, I sure hope they actually got more as well… no, I would think it means they bought more. Or better.