On December 22nd, 2004, I had an "eureka" moment. It was when I saw an article somewhere about a 12 year old girl in the USA who had started a "videoblog". I had myself blogged on LiveJournal and other places since 2000, so I was familiar with the blogging aspects. But I had unconsciously been looking for "showing my world to the world".

I saw the videoblog by the girl (she got some help from her dad Michael Verdi, of course), and... my mind blew up. "This Changes Everything!", I expressed. And if a 12 year old can do it (albeit with some troubleshooting help from her father), then I can. Anyone can.

I flew from Bergen to a snowstorm-prone New York City the next month, in January 2005, to "VloggerCon 2005" where I at the closing session expressed my manifesto. And my journey deep into vlogging had started.

During the next years, until 2009, I was actively documenting my life, my context, and discussions I had with people around the world. I co-organized "VlogEurope" from 2005-2009 (Amsterdam, Milan, Heidelberg, Budapest, Amsterdam), and I thought a lot about "what this means".

One conclusion came in 2006 during that VloggerCon in San Francisco, where I also moderated one panel debate. My conclusion was connected with the "French Maid TV" thing, and also the eternal "dog on skateboard" discussions. My thought was: "Is this what we will be using all these new opportunities for?"

In 2009, I stopped vlogging, more or less, with a taste of disgust. I did not express that disgust so clearly in the book about pre-YouTube videobloggers by Trine Bjørkmann Berry where I was one of the people quoted, but privately - I was disgusted by what I had been a part of.

Now, don't get me wrong. YouTube, et al - online video - it opens up SO many opportunities. And it has given millions of people a voice, a chance to connect with others. But it has also altered our society in ways that I do not like. The eternal "influencers" gimmick, the focus on over-produced videos with a cynical hacking of the human mind (the "hook" within 3 seconds, the dramatic thumbnails).

On November 29th 2022, I had another eureka moment. Yes, I had heard about AI before, and also generative AI. But I had not done more than dabble a bit in it, concluded that "nah, too much friction for me", and waited. I had waited for that day, it seems. When ChatGPT launched, I saw the Twitter/X feed glow, and some of the concrete use cases inspired me.

My first disappointment with genAI came just a few weeks later, but I still did my praxis, my "mengdetrening" (a Norwegian term for deliberate practice through volume). The disappointment was with people who used genAI in order to stop thinking themselves. "I can let ChatGPT write for me!", a friend exclaimed. I felt sick. "Ohhhh noooo", I thought.

And yesterday was 3 years since that eureka moment, and I have done more within AI, both privately and within my work.

My conclusion now?

Yesterday, November 29th 2025, I had a new eureka moment. But that is for another post.