Heated AI debate at University of Copenhagen: 'cognitively dulling' versus 'on par with the industrial revolution'

The University of Copenhagen is putting 110 million kroner into artificial intelligence, including the development of its own language model. The investment has drawn heavy criticism from employees and students, according to a report in Ingeniøren dated 2 November. The report frames the debate around two phrases: critics calling AI "cognitively dulling" and the university's leadership likening its impact to the industrial revolution.

The new AI strategy is led by Morten Axel Pedersen, the university's new head of AI, who is trained as an anthropologist. He says the societal and technological change AI will bring is on par with the industrial revolution. In his words, there is something irreversible about AI that will change everything, and that is why the university is committing the money to its new AI mission.

Pedersen does not rule out that students may in future be graded on their use of AI.

Only the opening of the report was available, so the specific arguments from critics among staff and students, and further details of how the 110 million kroner will be spent, are not covered here.

The story matters because it shows a major Danish university making a large, strategic bet on AI while its own community is divided over whether the technology helps or harms learning and thinking. The prospect of grading AI use also points to how teaching and assessment could change.