Frank Ejby Poulsen, PhD

Why does it say on the graph that inside “Europe and Central Asia” the most popular destination is “the USA 17%” followed by the UK and Germany? 🤔

Academics are already overworked and asked to perform specialised work of various sorts on top of teaching and research. So, get them proper training tailored to their specific needs and buy them a subscription to the proper AI-tools. Same for students. Or hire me! I’m an unemployed historian.

To be fair, I don’t want to blame anyone in particular, except the institutions that ask their employees to adopt the use of AI-tools and incorporate them in their work (here teaching and research), but do not offer any training and let them on their own to learn how to use them outside work hours.

a cartoon dog is sitting in front of a fire and saying i 'm fine this is fine everything is fine ALT: a cartoon dog is sitting in front of a fire and saying i 'm fine this is fine everything is fine

My guess is a daily positive self-affirmation: “We’re safe from AI”… the same way some deny climate change as an overhyped hoax. It feels safer to say “I looked outside and it was cold and rainy, ergo global warming is overhyped, we’re safe, let’s continue as before”.

two men are standing next to each other and one of them is saying `` hello , computer ? '' . ALT: two men are standing next to each other and one of them is saying `` hello , computer ? '' .

6. So, why are people still publishing these kinds of “I asked AI…” posts that are only embarrassingly broadcasting their ignorance of AI and lack of the most fundamental skills in 2025 that is prompting?

5. Why are the prompts used for this deep piece of scholarly enquiry not shared? Or were they? “Copilot then suggested”, “I asked Copilot to prepare a publication “…? Again, it’s undermining any credibility by showing ignorance of basic proper use of an LLM through prompting.

4. Of all the options, the choice is set on Copilot… Interesting choice. Why this one? Because it’s the only one that comes paid by the institution one works for as part of Office? Why on earth would one of the top universities in the world choose ChatGPT for its employees and students instead?

3. Only one AI-tool was used. So, how does that imply a general conclusion for all the other available options? This shows a lack of basic understanding of LLMs and how they vary depending on the training they received.

2. It’s best to shorten with “AI-tools” rather than “AI”. And like any tool, you have to build skills to use it properly, by understanding what it can do through rigorous, repeated and focused practice. It’s already undermining credibility to talk improperly about “AI”.

1. AI stands for artificial intelligence, which doesn’t mean an actual entity artificially constructed that has intelligence. It is a field of study. You may as well brandish a pencil and shout “I asked Fine Arts to draw the Vitruvian man and all I got was this lousy stick figure in a circle”.

I seriously wonder why people who are serious scholars keep posting this kind of “I asked AI…” followed by “and all I got was this lousy result” to draw the inevitable conclusion: “AI is overhyped”, “so let’s continue as before”.

The notion of an ailing body politic feels sadly relevant today. My November blogpost reflects on a workshop held in September that explored how the notion of the body politic was deployed by republican writers in the C17 and C18.
www.rachelhammersley.com/new-blog/2025/10/28/republican-bodies

After months of back-and-forth drafting, & over 10,000 words of dialogue, I am delighted that this discussion article co-authored with Quentin Skinner (@qmul.bsky.social) is now published @global-ih.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....

Many thanks to the editor @tomaashby.bsky.social and to the reviewer Laura André Lombard! It’s truly heartwarming to see years of work get noticed and read. Now, more than ever before, we live in dangerous times in great need of cosmopolitan republicanism.

YouTube video by SocAntiquaries Back in college: Daily life of students at European universities, 1200-1600 by Dr A. Willemsen FSA

Catch up on our lecture from today, all about medievial uni students from @amwillemsen.bsky.social. www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ0D...

Excellent analysis of the state of 🇬🇧 HE. Same crisis in other countries. I think there is a need to regain public support and start engaging more and better in public debates, while embracing the changing role of HE. Question is how… Any suggestion welcome

Most likely candidate to become one of the most cited historical sources by future historians studying the comments section.

And if that's not enough for you, then later the same day,
2) 'Objects, Images, and Spaces of Health' roundtable on 2 new books: Tillmann Taape's 'Crafting Medicine' & Jack Hartnell's 'Wound Man' (free, online CHSTM #histmed working group, also meeting 10 Oct & 14 Nov): www.chstm.org/group/object...

#BookHistory

Mobilising knowledge as a political tool

Read the interview with our #PhD researcher Müberra Kapusuz on the political role of expertise in #17thcentury Ottoman politics, in relation with today’s debates on expertise and authority 👇

📰 #Fridayreads #Expertise

🎉📣 Announcing the IHR Research Training Courses for October - December 2025.

Visit the IHR website to register and find detailed information on each course: www.history.ac.uk/study-traini...

🚨JOB Alert🚨 We are looking for another postdoctoral researcher to cover the history of veterans in the British colonies of Southern and/or East Africa in the interwar period. 24 month contract, deadline October 03. Please share widely. universityvacancies.com/maynooth-uni...

Please spread the word—The Scholars’ Workshop in Early African American Print at AAS Jan. 12-15, 2026. A writing workshop and intro to archives for junior scholars working on the dissertation or first book. Fully funded. Apply by Oct. 15 2025. PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD

This looks great!

CIRCE logo: early modern engraving of a Renaissance city behind walls in a valley with a castle on top of a hill in the background.

📣The next CIRICE conference in Naples June 11-13, 2026. The main topic is "Transition Cities," focusing on using digital humanities for the knowledge and conservation of urban heritage. 🔗 www.iconografiacittaeuropea.unina.it/cms/sessioni/ #urbanheritage #digitalhumanities #naples #cirice

Tagungsbericht (H-Soz-Kult): INTELLEX  H-Soz-Kult: „Figures, Methods, and Moments of the Institutionalisation of Legal History in ca. 1500–1900 Europe“. Organisiert von Frank Ejby Poulsen (Universität Bayreuth, Centre of International Excellence „Alexander von Humboldt“) fand die internationale Tagung „Figures, Methods, and Moments of the Institutionalisation of Legal History in ca. 1500–1900 Europe“ hybrid am 12.–13. Juni 2025 im Institut für Fränkische Landesgeschichte…

Tagungsbericht (H-Soz-Kult): INTELLEX

 H-Soz-Kult: „Figures, Methods, and Moments of the Institutionalisation of Legal History in ca. 1500–1900 Europe“. Organisiert von Frank Ejby Poulsen (Universität Bayreuth, Centre of International Excellence „Alexander von Humboldt“) fand die internationale…

Front cover of a book called 'Understanding Early Modern Primary Sources', part of the Routledge Guides to Using Historical Sources series. edited by Laura Sangha and Jonathan Willis. The cover image is a painting of early modern objects - a pile of books and papers, a flask and glass, bread roll, lute and globe.

Editing revised chapters for the forthcoming 2nd edition of our guide to #EarlyModern 🗃️ sources today👌

The revised volume will also include 3 new chapters:

Part 1 'Sources':
- Digitised Sources

Part 2 'Histories':
- Race
- The Body, Mind & Emotions.

But this tech raises big questions:

1. How do we ensure ethical AI in historical research?

2. How does our role as historians change when tasks are automated?

Grateful for our panel's discussion, and extending it: What do you think? #Askhistorians

(4/4)

Next up: Using HTR & LLMs on his personal letters to directly connect his political thought to his reading. We're bridging the gap between the library and the mind. 🤖📜

(3/4) #AIinHumanities #EarlyModern