Hi all,
got another call for proposal from Jörg Paraeigis,
see below, Vegard what’s you thoughts on the below?
Building lightweight digital-sovereign AI Chatbots for Higher Education: Connecting the dots of openness
Hossein Erfani (Karlstad University), Jörg Pareigis (Karlstad University)
Generative AI is rapidly entering higher education, yet most institutions rely on commercial, opaque systems that undermine autonomy, privacy, and pedagogical control. Karlstad University has developed a system for digitally sovereign AI chatbots built on open standards, open-source technologies, and institutionally governed infrastructure. Integrated via LTI and using WordPress as a modular knowledge layer, the system ensures universities retain control over data, governance, and educational use. A key innovation is structured ingestion of Open Educational Resources and course syllabi, improving accuracy and pedagogical alignment. The project demonstrates how European universities and NRENs can collaboratively build transparent, sustainable AI aligned with public-sector values.