Presentations
How do we communicate with language models?
Ingrid Lossius Falkum & Nicholas Allott
"Everyone" talks about the impressive abilities of large language models (LLMs). But what happens to us humans when we communicate with them? Do we perceive LLMs as interlocutors in the same way as human interlocutors, and attribute similar characteristics to them? In this presentation, we will discuss some of the philosophical and linguistic issues that arise from our communication with LLMs, some proposals for how to investigate them empirically, and why these perspectives are important for understanding the consequences of the advent of language models in our daily lives.
The Impact of Generative Artificial Intelligence on Political Knowledge, Opinion Formation, and Democracy (KnowAI)
Rune Karlsen
Generative AI (GenAI) is transforming society in exciting but potentially worrying ways. A prominent concern is that AI may reinforce societal divisions—widening knowledge gaps, spreading misinformation, fostering echo chambers, diminishing social trust, and deepening polarization. In this talk, Rune will present the KnowAI project, which systematically investigates these challenges through a cross-disciplinary approach. By combining theoretical models of opinion formation with empirical methods—including controlled experiments, in-depth interviews, and large-scale surveys—KnowAI examines how GenAI shapes knowledge acquisition, political discourse, and democratic engagement. Crucially, the project aims to explores ways to mitigate AI’s risks and leverage its potential to foster informed citizenship and reduce political inequalities.
Speakers
Rune Karlsen is Professor at the Department of Media and Communication at the University of Oslo, and Project Leader for KnowAI. His research focuses on political communication, new media technology, media effects, electoral research and political elites.
Ingrid Lossius Falkum is Professor of Linguistics and Philosophy of Communication at the University of Oslo. Her research focuses on linguistic communication at the intersection of linguistics, philosophy and psychology. Interests include the development of communication skills in children, how word meanings are adjusted in context, and challenges related to modeling language comprehension in AI systems.
Nicholas Allott is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages at the University of Oslo. His work includes pragmatics (especially relevance theory), inference in communication, word meaning, legal language, the philosophy of linguistics, and Chomsky’s thought.
Program
12:00 – Doors open and lunch is served
12:15 – "How do we communicate with chatbots? And what impact does artificial intelligence have on democracy?" by Rune Karlsen (Professor, Department of Media and Communication), Ingrid Lossius Falkum (Professor, Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas) and Nicholas Allott (Senior Lecturer, Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages)
13:15 – Mingling (and goodbye)
To participate, please fill out the registration form. This way, we will not be short on food and drinks! (Registration is not binding and you are welcome to join us anyway!)
See the event live online
About the seminar series
Once a month, dScience will invite you to join us for lunch and professional talks at the Science Library. In addition to these, we will serve lunch in our lounge in Kristine Bonnevies house every Thursday. Due to limited space (40 people), this will be first come, first served. See how to find us here.
Our lounge can also be booked by PhDs and Postdocs on a regular basis, whether it is for a meeting or just to hang out – we have fresh coffee all day long!