Samia Touileb & Lilja Øvrelid at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters
2026-03-11 18:00 - 20:00 (Europe/Oslo) | Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi, Drammensveien 78, Oslo, Norway
Samia Touileb and Lilja Øvrelid from MediaFutures will participate as keynote speakers in a conversation at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, as part of the Forskning og KI (Research and AI) series. The event will focus on the themes of research sovereignty and artificial intelligence, discussing their implications for the future of media and technology. It will provide valuable insights into how AI intersects with academic research and the importance of sovereignty in the rapidly evolving technological landscape.
Speakers:Samia Touileb is an Associate Professor in Language Technology at the Department of Information and Media Studies at the University of Bergen. She is a member of the Academy of Young Researchers and was honored with the Communication Award by the Faculty of Social Sciences in November 2025.
Lilja Øvrelid is a Professor at the Department of Informatics at the University of Oslo, where she leads the Language Technology Group. Her research focuses on text processing using machine learning techniques.
Date: 11th March 2026Location: Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters
For more details, please visit the official event page.

SFI MediaFutures Lunch Seminar: Meet Ryan Anthony Marinelli
2026-03-27 11:15 - 12:45 | MediaFutures HQ, 3rd Floor, Tower 1, Media City, Media Futures HQ, 3rd floor, Bergen, 5008
Join us for a lunch seminar with our new postdoctoral researcher Ryan Anthony Marinelli, who will introduce himself and his work.
Ryan will present his previous research and current research interests, followed by his postdoctoral plan and project collaboration ideas with our industry partners.
All are welcome!
Date: 27 MarchTime: 11:15 – 12:45Venue: MediaFutures
Abstract:From Exploitation to Representation: Evaluating Secure AI and Norwegian EmbeddingsThis talk opens by exploring AI safety and security across different levels of abstraction. At the highest level, we examine how AI interacts with society and how filtering mechanisms can be applied to mitigate risks. In contrast, the lowest level is explored through mechanistic interpretability, focusing on how models memorize information and how they may be aligned with human values.The second part of the talk focuses on embeddings and recent evaluation efforts to understand the ability of large language models to function as embedding models. There is particular interest in embeddings within a news context, analyzing how to best support retrieval and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) in more specialized use cases, including Norwegian-language settings.

SFI MediaFutures Industry Stakeholder Workshop Day
2026-04-29 10:00 - 17:00 | MediaFutures HQ, 3rd Floor, Tower 1, Media City, Media Futures HQ, 3rd floor, Bergen, 5008
We are happy to confirm the date for our first SFI MediaFutures Industry Stakeholder Workshop Day, co-hosted with our colleagues at Medieklyngen Bergen.
Date: Wednesday, April 29th, 2026
Time: 10:00–17:00 (+ dinner afterwards approx. til 22:00)
Venue: SFI MediaFutures Research Centre, Media City Bergen
The purpose of this event is to create a space for more conversation and project-ideation, bringing together representatives from each industry and user partner organization alongside our work package leaders and senior researchers.
Here is the agenda for the day:
10:00–10:15 | Coffee, Welcome, & Opening (15 min) @ SFI MediaFutures
10:15–11:15 | Slot One (60 min) @ SFI MediaFutures

Presentation 1 (10 min) Are Tverberg // TV2
Presentation 2 (10 min) Mehdi Elahi // SFI MediaFutures

Table discussion (25 min)
Plenary feedback (15 min)

11:15–12:15 | Slot Two (60 min) @ SFI MediaFutures

Presentation 1 (10 min) JC Lopez, Victorina Demirel, & Anna Lunde // Schibsted
Presentation 2 (10 min) Samia Touileb & Ryan A. Marinelli // SFI MediaFutures

Table discussion (25 min)
Plenary feedback (15 min)

12:15–13:15 | Lunch & Networking (60 min)
— ca. 15 min. walk to TV2 // Meeting point: MCB Atrium, next to ping pong table —
13:30–14:15 | Site Visit One // @ TV2 (45 min)

Guided Tour + Q&A on the spot (30 min) Are Tverberg & Snorre Alvsvåg // TV2
Presentation + Q&A on the spot (15min) Yuki Onishi, Nataliya Nymo, & Snorre Alvsvåg // SFI MediaFutures, Vizrt, & TV2

— ca. 15 min. walk to TV2 // Meeting point: MCB Atrium, next to ping pong table —
14:30–15:00 | Site Visit Two // @ NRK (30 min)

Guided tour (20 min) + Q&A (10 min) Medieklyngen & NRK

— ca. 15 min walk to Medieklyngen // Meeting point: MCB Atrium, next to ping pong table —
15:15–16:00 | Slot Three (45 min) @ Medieklyngen

Presentation 1 (5 min) Jan Stian Vold // BT
Presentation 2 (10 min) Emily LaRosa // SFI MediaFutures

Table discussion (20 min)
Plenary feedback (10 min)

16:00–17:00 | Slot Four (60 min) @ Medieklyngen

Presentation 1 (5 min) Kajsa Garmann Lønrusten / Faktisk.no
Presentation 2 (5 min) Vinay Setty / Factiverse
Presentation 3 (10 min) Hina Afridi / SFI MediaFutures

Table discussion (25 min)
Plenary feedback (15 min)

17:00–17:10 | Wrap-up & Close (10 min)
17:10–18:00 | Reception@ Medieklyngen
19:00–22:00 | Dinner & Networking // @ Colonialen Sann Restaurant
We are already very much looking forward to hosting you all in Bergen at our Centre. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions in the meantime.
MediaFutures Consortium members are welcome to join the event.

Call for Participation: Workshop Tracking Eyes and Mind
2026-05-04 10:00 - 2026-05-06 14:30 | University of Bergen, venue TBA
From May 4th to 6th, the University of Bergen, in collaboration with MediaFutures, is organizing Workshop Tracking Eyes and Mind.
To view the updated program and register for the event, please visit the official organizer’s website.
Registration Deadline:
30.03.2026 – 23.55
Workshop Goals:
The workshop focus on demonstrations of eye tracking designs in Linguistics and Human Computer Interaction.
Introduction to Intermediate Level + Network building
Invited Poster presentations.
Target Audience:
Advanced MA students and Ph.D. Scholarship students
Researchers in Linguistics and/or Human Computer Interaction and/or
AI/NLP who want to use Eye Tracking in their Research.
Invited Lecturers:
Andrew Duchowski
Mauro Manassi
Agnieszka Konopka
Professor Andrew Duchowski is a world-leader in the field of eye tracking.
Local Team:
Christer Johansson
Morten Fjeld
Maki Kubota
Jade Sandstedt
Associate Member
Oana Geman (Chalmers)
Organizers:
Professor Christer Johansson, Department of Linguistic Literary and Aesthetic Studies (UiB)
Professor Morten Fjeld, Department of Information Science and Media Studies (UiB) and WP-leader in SFI MediaFutures
Sponsors:
the Bergen University Fund
HCI Infrastructure Grant, UiB
Accessibility Lab, UiB
SFI MediaFutures, UiB
To view the updated program and register for the event, please visit the official organizer’s website.

Nordic Media Days (Nordiske Mediedager)
2026-05-06 - 2026-05-08 | Grieghallen
Nordic Media Days (Nordiske Mediedager) is the biggest media conference in Northern Europe, bringing together journalists, editors, media leaders, researchers, and industry professionals to discuss key developments in journalism, media, and communication.
The event offers insights into both current challenges and emerging trends in the media landscape.
Nordic Media Days is relevant for media professionals, researchers, students, and others interested in the role of media in society and the future of journalism.
Date: 6-8 May 2026Location: Grieghallen, Edvard Griegs plass 1, 5015 Bergen
For more details, please visit the organisers’ website.

MIX Innovation Day 2026
2026-05-08 10:00 - 12:30 | Media City Bergen, Lars Hilles gate 30, Bergen, 5008, Norway
Date: 8th May 2026
Time: 10:00-12:30
Venue: Media City Bergen: Atlantis, Atriet
Innovation Day has traditionally been an event where bachelor’s and master’s students in Media and Interaction Design (MIX) showcase the prototypes they have developed throughout the semester. This year, they are taking the event a step further by inviting more courses to participate and present their semester projects.
The event highlights innovation, knowledge sharing, and the development of digital services, and provides students with a valuable arena to showcase both their academic expertise and creative solutions. It is a unique opportunity to demonstrate what the students, and the courses they represent, have to offer.
The event is organized by the Department of Information Science and Media Studies at the University of Bergen (UiB).
To view the updated program and register for the event, please visit the official organizer’s website.

MediaFutures Series Seminar: Soheila Molaei "From Graphs to Graph Neural Networks: Applications in Multi-Modal Heterogeneous Real-World Data"
2026-05-08 13:00 - 14:00 | MediaFutures HQ, 3rd Floor, Tower 1, Media City, Media Futures HQ, 3rd floor, Bergen, 5008
MediaFutures warmly welcomes Soheila Molaei talk on:
“From Graphs to Graph Neural Networks: Applications in Multi-Modal Heterogeneous Real-World Data”

All are welcome! Lunch will be served.

Date: 8 May
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: MediaFutures

TitleFrom Graphs to Graph Neural Networks: Applications in Multi-Modal Heterogeneous Real-World Data

AbstractIn this talk, I will introduce the basic ideas behind graphs and graph neural networks (GNNs), and discuss why they have become powerful tools for modelling complex, structured, and heterogeneous real-world data. I will begin with an overview of graph-based representations and the core principles of message passing and graph representation learning, before moving to a range of AI applications where GNNs provide advantages over conventional learning approaches. In particular, I will discuss applications in heterogeneous and multimodal settings, including privacy-preserving federated learning, neuro-symbolic modelling, and emerging graph-based methods for spatial and multi-modal data integration. Overall, the talk aims to connect the foundations of graph learning with current AI challenges involving structure, heterogeneity, and multi-source data.

Speaker’s bioSoheila Molaei is a senior researcher in the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on artificial intelligence and machine learning, with a particular emphasis on graph neural networks, federated learning, neuro-symbolic AI, and learning from multimodal and heterogeneous data. Her work explores how graph-based methods can support robust, interpretable, and privacy-aware AI systems across complex real-world applications. She has also collaborated with researchers at the University of Bergen on graph-based and neuro-symbolic learning research.

Public lecture by Luciano Floridi
2026-05-20 15:30 - 16:45 | Storsalen, Nygårdsgaten 5 (første etasje)
Welcome to a public lecture with our new honorary doctor professor Luciano Floridi.
Date: 20.05.2026
Time:15.30–16.15
Venue:Storsalen, Nygårdsgaten 5
Please arrive five to ten minutes before the starting time.

The University of Bergen has appointed Professor Luciano Floridi of Yale University as an honorary doctor, following a nomination from the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Department of Information Science and Media Studies.
Professor Floridi will give a public lecture drawing on his foundational contributions to information ethics, the philosophy of AI, and digital society. The title of the lecture is: “What is the impact of AI on Democracy?”. You can read more about the lecture here.
Through his role on the MediaFutures International Advisory Committee, Professor Floridi actively contributes to shaping the centre’s research agenda on responsible media technologies and AI-driven innovation, strengthening the bridge between cutting-edge research, industry needs, and societal values.
The honorary doctorate will be formally conferred at a ceremony in the University Aula on 21 May 2026. The appointment of Professor Floridi further strengthens MediaFutures’ international profile and underlines the University of Bergen’s commitment to advancing responsible and trustworthy media technologies.
Read more about Professor Floridi and his role at MediaFutures here.
On the occasion of his appointment as an honorary doctor, Professor Luciano Floridi was interviewed by Innovation Coordinator at MediaFutures Christopher Senf and Communication Officer at the Infomedia Department Malgorzata Anna Pacholczyk. Read the interview here.
The lecture is open to the general public. Everybody is welcome!

Workshop & Debate: Luciano Floridi on AI and social futures
2026-05-20 17:00 - 19:00 | Media City Bergen, Lars Hilles gate 30, Bergen, 5008, Norway
Date: 20.05.2026
Time: 17.00–19.00
Venue: Media City Bergen, Lars Hillesgate 30
Our honorary doctor Luciano Floridi will be the main guest at a workshop on the topic “AI and social futures” in Media City Bergen. The workshop will engage staff, students and stakeholders at Infomedia in a discussion of core challenges for the future of academia. The event is by invitation only.
The event is intended to engage people at the Infomedia department in a dialogue with professor Luciano Floridi about central challenges for academia posed by generative AI.
We invite our academic and administrative staff, our PhD candidates, and master and bachelor students, and we also invite stakeholders and partners associated with Infomedia. We will engage in a structured roundtable discussion on societal challenges brought on by AI.
The workshop will be held in the “Redaksjonsrom” in Infomedia’s campus at Media City Bergen, Lars Hilles gate 30. The doors will be open and we will look for our guests as they arrive.
You can read more about the workshop here.
Through his role on the MediaFutures International Advisory Committee, Professor Floridi actively contributes to shaping the centre’s research agenda on responsible media technologies and AI-driven innovation, strengthening the bridge between cutting-edge research, industry needs, and societal values.
The honorary doctorate will be formally conferred at a ceremony in the University Aula on 21 May 2026. The appointment of Professor Floridi further strengthens MediaFutures’ international profile and underlines the University of Bergen’s commitment to advancing responsible and trustworthy media technologies.
Read more about Professor Floridi and his role at MediaFutures here.
On the occasion of his appointment as an honorary doctor, Professor Luciano Floridi was interviewed by Innovation Coordinator at MediaFutures Christopher Senf and Communication Officer at the Infomedia Department Malgorzata Anna Pacholczyk. Read the interview here.

UiB AI Seminar: AI Alignment
2026-05-28 09:00 - 15:45 | Storsalen, Nygårdsgaten 5, first floor, Nygårdsgaten 5, Bergen, 5015, Norway
Date: 28th of May 2026
Time: 09.00–15.45
Venue: Storsalen, Nygårdsgaten 5, 5015 Bergen (first floor)
The event brings together experts, researchers, and industry professionals to explore, discuss, and advance our understanding of the challenges and solutions related to aligning artificial intelligence systems with human values and goals.
The seminar is organized and moderated by Samia Touileb, an Associate Professor in the Department of Information Science and Media Studies at the University of Bergen and co-leader of the Norwegian Language Technologies research stream at MediaFutures.
Among the speakers is Ryan Marinelli, a postdoctoral researcher at MediaFutures, who will give a presentation on safety or security.
To view the updated program and register for the event, please visit the official organizer’s website.

KIME seminar: From algomaxxing to AI influencers
2026-06-12 09:30 - 14:00 | Center for Digital Narrative, LG1 lounge (Langes gate 1-3)
Welcome to a half-day seminar discussing new practices and phenomena emerging from the study of algorithms and artificial intelligence in culture and society.

The seminar will include talks from two visiting scholars doing research on cutting-edge phenomena in digital culture – algomaxxing and AI influencers – followed by a lunch discussion in which participants can receive and offer feedback on their own development of concepts and methods for the study of similar topics.

Programme:
09:30: Welcome & Introduction from KIME
09:45: Talk by Idil Galip: Algomaxxing: Notes on cultural production after the algorithm
10:45: Coffee break
11:00: Talk by Alexandra Deem: Automating authenticity: The rise of AI influencers
12:00: Lunch & discussion with the speakers: “Developing concepts and methods for the study of AI cultures”

The seminar is hosted by the ALGOFOLK (Algorithmic folklore: The mutual shaping of vernacular creativity and automation) project at the Center for Digital Narrative, and the Imagine (Citizen perceptions of AI in everyday media life) project at the Department of Information Science and Media Studies. The collaboration is funded by a grant from UiB’s strategy for the humanities, on the topic of authenticity and digital media in an age of AI (KIME – Kunstig intelligens og autentisk medieinnhold).
Read more about the event and register on the official organizer’s website.
Lunch is free for anyone who signs up to the seminar, please find details on the official organizer’s website.
Contact person: Gabriele de Seta

MediaFutures Series Seminar: Lucie Flek "From Framing to Alignment: Representing Human Worldviews in AI"
2026-06-18 12:00 - 13:00 | MediaFutures HQ, 3rd Floor, Tower 1, Media City, Media Futures HQ, 3rd floor, Bergen, 5008
MediaFutures warmly welcomes Lucie Flek’s talk on:
“From Framing to Alignment: Representing Human Worldviews in AI”.

Date: 18 June
Time: 12:00-13:00
Venue: MediaFutures HQ (3rd Floor, Media City)
Zoom Link: https://uib.zoom.us/j/63914739737?pwd=[REDACTED]

Abstract:
Educational materials, political discourse, and online communities do more than communicate information: they express perspectives, values, and worldviews. In our information ecosystem, these human representations are no longer only interpreted by people – they are also learned, reproduced, and transformed by AI systems.
This talk explores the connections between framing, pluralism, and AI alignment through the lens of representation. What does it mean for an AI system to represent a perspective? Can models capture diverse viewpoints without collapsing them into a single “average” position? And how should we think about alignment when values themselves are heterogeneous and contested?
Lucie Flek argues that many AI alignment challenges boil down to challenges of representation: whose perspectives are captured, which values are privileged, and whether our evaluation methods are even robust enough to evaluate and control these choices.
Speaker’s bio:
Lucie Flek is a full professor at the University of Bonn, leading the Data Science and Language Technologies group. Her main interests lie in machine learning research for natural language processing (NLP), including AI robustness and safety. The application areas range from large language models and conversational systems, across clinical NLP and mental health research, to misinformation detection and social media analyses. Prof. Flek has been active both in academia and industry – she used to manage natural language understanding research programs in Amazon Alexa and contributed to the Google Shopping Search launch in Europe. Her academic work at the University of Pennsylvania and University College London revolved around user modeling from text, and its applications in psychology and social sciences. Her PhD at TU Darmstadt focused on meaning ambiguity, incorporating expert lexical-semantic resources into DNN classification tasks. She has served as Area Chair for Computational Social Sciences at numerous ACL* conferences, and as an editor of the NLP section of multiple AI journals. Before her career path in natural language processing, Prof. Flek has been contributing to particle physics research at CERN in the area of axion searches.

Arendalsuka: "Responsible AI moving from research into practice in Norwegian news media"
2026-08-11 11:00 - 11:45 | Arendalsuka, Kunstig Intelligens-teltet Kirkebakken 19, Tyholmen, Arendal, Norway
About the Event
Artificial intelligence is transforming journalism and the media industry at an unprecedented pace, creating both new opportunities and significant challenges. This event brings together researchers and industry partners from SFI MediaFutures to explore how responsible AI is moving from research into practice in Norwegian news media.
MediaFutures Centre Leader Christoph Trattner, Innovation Coordinator Christopher Senf, and MediaFutures industry partners Schibsted Media AS, Factiverse and Fatisk.no will present ongoing research, real-world applications, and discuss how AI can strengthen editorial practices, support trustworthy journalism, and help maintain public trust in an evolving digital landscape.
Official Program website: https://www.arendalsuka.no/program/ansvarlig-ai-i-nyhetsmedier-fra-forskning-til-praksis
Program & Speakers:

11:00—11:02: Welcome & Intro (Christopher Senf, SFI MediaFutures)
11:02—11:07: Why responsible AI in news media matters now? (Christoph Trattner, SFI MediaFutures)
11:07—11:14: VITAL: Verifying health & lifestyle claims (Christoph Trattner and Tobias Wessel, SFI MediaFutures)
11:14—11:21: Tackling misinformation with AI (Gaute Kokkvoll, Factiverse AS)
11:21—11:28: AI-enabled detection of fake content (Runa Engen, Faktisk.no)
11:28—11:35: Videofy & SuperPod: AI and the Future of Responsible Liquid News (Anna Lunde, Schibsted)
11:35—11:45: Moderated Q&A: What must Norway build next? (All speakers, moderated by Christopher Senf)

Talks & Panel Event: From Memes to Mass Movements: How India's Gen Z is Shaping the Future
2026-09-04 10:00 - 12:00 | SFI MediaFutures, MCB
CANCELLED / POSTPONED
Unfortunately, our joint event with Det Moderne India has been postponed at short notice.
Our main speaker, Saurav Das of the Cockroach Janta Party movement, is no longer able to join us due to recent political developments in India. A second speaker has also had to withdraw.
At the heart of this event is the exchange between voices from inside the movement and researchers working across media, technology and political science. We therefore want to bring the conversation back when this exchange can take place as intended.
We are working on a new date and will share more information as soon as possible. Everyone who has registered for the event will be notified directly.
Stay tuned for a new date.
MediaFutures × Det Moderne India
Welcome to our joint event:India’s Digital Generation: From Memes to Mass Movements
What happens when memes turn into a mass movement?
In India, a new generation is finding its own ways to speak up, organise and challenge established politics. The Cockroach Janta Party grew from digital satire and memes among Gen Z into a large protest movement – bringing questions of unemployment, education and political accountability from social media into the streets.
On October 2, MediaFutures and The Modern India (Det Moderne India) bring together an exceptional group of researchers and voices to explore what this tells us about the changing relationship between media, technology, political communication and democracy.
We are especially excited to welcome Saurav Das, Chief Spokesperson of the Cockroach Janta Party, joining us directly from India.
He will be joined by Rina Sunder, Anwesha Dutta, Siri Gloppen, Özlem Demirkol-Tønnesen, Manisha Pathak-Shelat and Chris Senf, Ph.D., for talks and a panel discussion.From Memes to Mass Movements: How India’s Gen Z is Shaping the Future
Join us in Bergen (SFI MediaFutures, Media City Bergen)Or join online More information & registration ↓

Tentative event timeline
Friday, 4. September

Time
Program
Details

10:15
Welcome
Christopher Senf & Rina Sunder (SFI MediaFutures & Det Moderne India)

10:20
Setting the scene
Rina Sunder (Det Moderne India)

10:30
Inside the Movement
Saurav Das (Chief spokesperson of Cockroach Janta Party) /Online

11:00
Title TBA
Manisha Pathak-Shelat, Associate Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madinson /Recorded

11:05
Weapon & Shields: Law and protest movements in India
Siri Gloppen, Professor, Department of Government (UiB)

11:15
Playful, Subversive, Vernacular: Language of dissent and protest in a digital world
Ozlem Demirkol Tønnesen, Postdoc Research Fellow, Department of Infomedia (UiB)

11:25
Millennial with Gen Z: From the India We Inherited to the India We Imagine!!
Anwesha Dutta, Senior Researcher, Chr. Michelsen Institute (UiB)

11:35
Panel Debate
Saurav Das, Siri Gloppen, Ozlem Demirkol Tønnesen and Anwesha DuttaModerated by Christopher Senf

11:55
Closing

Link to the event.
Join on Zoom.

PYData Seminar: Stop Early, Decide Smarter: Bayesian Sequential Testing for LLM Benchmarking
2026-09-12 11:10 - 12:10 | NDSM-Plein 85 1033 WC Amsterdam, NDSM-Plein 85 1033 WC Amsterdam, Netherlands
Ryan Marinelli will be holding a tutorial at PyData, Amsterdam.
Evaluating large language models is expensive. Standard benchmarking practices run fixed numbers of trials regardless of how quickly signal emerges, wasting compute when differences are obvious and under-sampling when they are subtle.
This talk introduces Bayesian sequential stopping rules as a principled alternative. Rather than committing to a sample size upfront, sequential methods continuously update a posterior over model performance and halt evaluation once sufficient evidence has accumulated, or once further sampling is unlikely to change the conclusion.
We walk through the statistical foundations, show how this framework applies to common benchmarking scenarios (accuracy comparisons, pass@k, agent task completion), and demonstrate a practical open-source Python implementation attendees can use immediately. Real benchmark datasets are used throughout to ground the approach.
Audience: ML engineers, researchers, and data scientists who run model evaluations and care about making reliable comparisons without burning unnecessary compute.
Takeaways: A conceptual understanding of sequential testing, practical guidance on when and how to apply it, and a working tool to take home.
Fixed-sample benchmarking is the default in NLP and LLM evaluation, but it has two failure modes: it over-runs when models are clearly different early on, and under-runs when tight comparisons require more evidence than the budget allows. Sequential hypothesis testing, long standard in clinical trials and A/B testing, offers a cleaner framework: keep sampling until a decision threshold is crossed, or until a maximum budget is exhausted.
This talk applies that framework specifically to LLM and agent benchmarking and covers:

The statistical case: Why pass@k evaluation is often wasteful, and what sequential Bayes factors and posterior stopping criteria offer instead
Design choices: Prior elicitation, stopping thresholds, and how to handle multi-model comparisons without inflating error rates
Practical implementation: A walkthrough of a pip-installable Python package built on this framework
Limitations and scope: When sequential testing helps, when it doesn’t, and how to sanity-check results

The talk is self-contained; attendees need only basic familiarity with probability and Python.
Outline (30 min):
Motivation: the cost of fixed-N benchmarking — 5 min
Sequential testing foundations (Bayes factors, stopping rules) — 8 min
Demo: the Python package on real benchmark data — 10 min
Design guidance, edge cases, and Q&A — 7 min

Public Roundtable: Who Can We Trust? AI, News, and the Future of Public Truth
2026-10-02 15:00 - 17:00 | Scandic Ørnen, Bergen
Roundtable: Who can we trust? AI, news, and the future of public truth.

Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing how news is produced, distributed and encountered. It is becoming part of editorial workflows, content moderation and recommendation systems, influencing not only how journalists work, but also what information reaches the public – and how we decide what to trust.
What does this mean for the ethical foundations of journalism and news media? And how can we ensure that AI strengthens, rather than undermines, access to reliable information and democratic public life?
This public roundtable brings together Dr. David Danks, Dr. Maralee Harrell, Dr. Emily LaRosa, Dr. Johnathan Flowers, Dr. Kimon Kieslich and Dr. Natali Helberger – scholars whose work spans AI ethics, philosophy, public reasoning, technology and society, media governance and communication. Bringing these perspectives into the same conversation creates an opportunity to examine questions that cannot be addressed by technology, journalism, policy or ethics alone. Moderated by Dr. Christopher Senf.
The discussion will explore trust, accountability, public reasoning and justice in AI-mediated news environments, including the implications of AI for journalism, content moderation, recommendation systems, editorial practices and public access to reliable information. It will also ask a larger question: What ethical frameworks do we need as AI becomes increasingly embedded in the infrastructures through which societies understand themselves and the world?
Rather than a series of individual presentations, the event takes the form of a public roundtable. The format is deliberately conversational: different disciplines, approaches and positions can meet around the same questions, allowing participants to respond to, challenge and build on one another’s perspectives. Opening that conversation to the public also makes the discussion itself part of a wider process of reflection on how AI should shape our shared information environment.
For MediaFutures, these questions go to the heart of the centre’s work on responsible AI for the media sector and its research into misinformation, polarization, discrimination and the conditions for healthy information ecosystems.
I want to attend. Register Now.
When: Friday, October 2 – Venue: Scandic Ørnen

15:00–17:00
Public Roundtable
Discussion on trust, accountability, public reasoning, and justice in AI-mediated news environments.

Annual Meeting 26: Our public flagship conference
2026-11-05 13:00 - 2026-11-06 18:00 | Scandic Ørnen, Bergen
Keep the date in your calendars! We are underway in planning the Annual Meeting for 2026! Please see the preliminary schedule below, final program will be confirmed closer to the date.
Thursday, 5 November – Venue: Media City

Time

Program

Details

13:00–13:15

Welcome & framing

Christopher Senf (MediaFutures) with Media Cluster Norway. Aims for the afternoon.

13:15–14:00

Session A — Liquid content & journalism-as-a-service

Paired industry + research talks (e.g. Schibsted / TV 2 with an Audience Understanding & Personalisation talk).

14:00–14:30

Table discussion & project ideation

Facilitated groups; capture concrete collaboration ideas.

14:30–14:50

Coffee break

14:50–15:35

Session B — Young audiences, trust & AI transparency

Paired talks (e.g. Amedia / Bergens Tidende with a Curated Information Frameworks talk).

15:35–16:00

Table discussion

Priorities and open questions per group.

16:00–16:15

Coffee break

16:15–16:55

Session C — Verification, fact-checking & content moderation

Paired talks (e.g. Faktisk.no / Factiverse with a moderation-research talk).

16:55–17:30

Wrap-up: shared priorities & next steps

Synthesis of table outputs; commitments and follow-ups.

19:30

Conference Dinner

ROAST, Scandic Ørnen (separate registration)

Friday, 6 November – Venue: Scandic Ørnen

08:15–09:00

Registration & morning coffee

09:00–09:15

Welcome & opening

Christoph Trattner — Director, SFI MediaFutures

09:15–09:55

Keynote 1 + Q&A

Prof. Claes de Vreese (University of Amsterdam) — AI, public trust and the future of democracy confirmed

09:55–10:35

Keynote 2 + Q&A

Ezra Eeman (Director of Strategy & Innovation, NPO) — AI and the transformation of media business models confirmed

10:35–11:00

Coffee break

11:00–12:00

Session 1 — AI & the Newsroom3 talks (15 min each) + joint Q&A

• JC Lopez (Schibsted News Media) — AI & liquid news confirmed• France TV — Skander Ben Attia (CTO) / director-level confirmed• Prof. Johanna Pirker (TU Munich) — AI, VR, HCI & gamification confirmed

12:00–13:00

Lunch

13:00–14:00

Session 2 — AI, Verification & Trust3 talks (15 min each) + joint Q&A

• Prof. Andreas Vlachos (Cambridge) — ML & automated fact-checking confirmed• Maria Amelie (Factiverse) TBC• BBC Verify —Kayleen Devlin confirmed

14:00–14:20

Coffee break

14:20–15:20

Session 3 — AI Safety & Democratic Impact3 talks (15 min each) + joint Q&A

• Stuart Jennings (AI Security Institute; prev. BBC) confirmed• Florent Daudens (Mizal AI; prev. Hugging Face) TBC • Talk 3 — open slot; suggested: Sam Gregory (WITNESS) — provenance & synthetic-media authenticity open slot — see notes

15:20–15:40

Coffee break

15:40–16:40

Panel — Nordic News Media AICompany pitches + moderated debate

15:40 — Company pitches (MediaFutures industry partners) partners TBD16:00 — Moderated debateModerator TBC

16:40–16:55

Refreshment break

16:55–17:40

Demo & Poster Session

16:55 — Live demos · 17:15 — Poster pitches (lightning)

17:40–18:15

Networking reception

Drinks; posters and demos remain open.

18:15–18:30

Poster Awards & closing

Christoph Trattner

18:30

End of conference program
