We have seen this pattern repeat throughout history with the introduction of disruptive technologies. The invention of the automobile, for example, sparked significant fear regarding the demise of the horse and buggy industry and related trades. Yet, the automobile ultimately led to unforeseen and immense benefits – cleaner streets, entirely new industries, faster transportation of goods and people, expanded access to markets and tourism, and ultimately contributed to significant societal progress and affluence. AI training is facing similar resistance and fear today. However, like the automobile, its potential benefits – such as democratizing access to sophisticated creative tools, enabling entirely new forms of artistic expression, and fostering innovation across many fields – are likely to far outweigh the disruptions. Technology shifts markets; the invention of mechanical trench diggers didn’t eliminate all manual labor but created new needs for operators, maintenance, and related services. AI in creative fields is following this pattern, enabling growth and specialization rather than simple, harmful displacement.
Ultimately, AI is a tool. Like any tool – whether it’s a camera, a synthesizer, a printing press, or video editing software – its ethical implications reside primarily in how humans choose to use it and the intentions behind its deployment, not in the fundamental process by which its underlying model was trained on publicly available information. Framing the source of training data as inherently “unethical” risks distracting from the real ethical challenges we face with AI: addressing potential biases in its application, preventing its misuse for malicious purposes like misinformation, defining appropriate legal and economic models for AI-generated content, and navigating the necessary adaptation of creative industries.
“The very idea of ‘unethically trained AI’… is fundamentally flawed.”
The frontier of innovation is rarely comfortable or perfectly defined, but human progress has always stemmed from our courage to explore new territories of knowledge and adapt to new tools available in our shared world. AI training, drawing from the modern public square, is simply the next step in this ongoing journey of progress. Rejecting the legitimacy of its fundamental learning process out of fear, especially fear potentially amplified for market control, limits the immense potential for creativity, discovery, and innovation that has always defined human endeavors. We benefit today from our ancestors’ willingness to learn from and build upon the collective knowledge; we should extend that principle, responsibly and thoughtfully, to the tools of the future.
Christopher Moonlight is an animator, special effects artist, and the director of the ‘Award This’ winning movie, The Quantum Terror. His upcoming animated sci-fi adventure, Escape From Planet Omega-12, combines traditional film-making special effects with AI to create something never seen before in independent film. You can follow the behind-the-scenes, including tutorials, tips, and tricks, on his YouTube Channel and Substack.
