Rebecca Jane Cox Brokstad, professor
Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen
Eitri (Haukelandsbakken 31)21. October 2025 11:30 – 15:00
From Bench to Backlash: The Vaccines Research Crisis
Vaccination is the most effective medical intervention and childhood vaccines have been used safely for decades saving millions of lives. Vaccination has resulted in elimination of smallpox and reduced wild type polio transmission to just two countries. The world health organisation estimates that measles vaccination alone averted more than 60 million deaths between 2000 and 2023. Yet in 2023 107500 measles deaths globally occurred due to lack of vaccination. Vaccination rates are falling and 10825 measles cases occurred in Europe in the last year, 83% in unvaccinated children. Eight children died from measles in the Romania, Netherlands, and France.
This lecture will reflect on how did we get here were vaccine preventable diseases that were close to eradication are once again claiming children’s lives.
Pål Grønas Drange, Associate Professor
Department of Informatics, University of Bergen
Eitri (Haukelandsbakken 31)21. October 2025 11:30 – 15:00
AI is not the assistant you think it is
Artificial intelligence is often sold as a versatile assistant, but it automates only the easy part: typing words, not ensuring their truth. Large language models are being promoted to users who rarely understand their limits, and as they learn by error, the quality of our services, knowledge, and trust declines.
This talk examines real-world failures in journalism, government, law, and health care, and how LLMs now enable large-scale production of fake research.