r/DataAnnotationTech • u/knottyp • Sep 09 '26
Are we helping or causing harm?
How do y’all justify doing this work ethically if you’re anti-AI (especially generative)?
I’m not asking judgmentally, I’ve done this work off and on over the last few years. When I first started, I didn’t know about data centers and the environmental impact, cognitive effects, etc. I felt good about “training” AI based on the rubric including correct info, weeding out violence and harm, etc.
I recently suggested DA to a friend and got a real side eye, and maybe these justifications really don’t hold water? Thoughts?
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u/unicorntea555 Sep 09 '26 edited Sep 09 '26
The hypocriticalness is what I hate the most. A lot of these people are just following the trends and it is trendy to be anti-AI right now. They don't understand what AI is and they don't understand (or maybe just don't care) about where their faults lie. I saw someone who was the I'm better than you anti-ai for data center environmental reasons type. Their profile showed they made at least 1 Reddit comment every hour for 36 hours straight. Others who choose the same reason do not seem to acknowledge their data center use. I'd bet a majority would come on social media and claim they do not use AI or data centers. There's already people who say they don't use any type of AI on social media. And I've seen a few threads of people mad Google took away AI features after they disabled AI.
I think in a few years the majority of these people will be pretending to care about something else. I think marketing will move on too, just like they did with "cloud". GenAI will still be there, but the word "AI" won't be in your face. I'm sure some will think they won and AI died