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beej71yesterday at 3:47 PM1 replyview on HN

It depends on what you consider to be a moral good. Some people feel that the world's information is getting locked down in the name of profit to the detriment of humankind. AA is providing knowledge to people who would otherwise not be able to get it. From that viewpoint, it's immoral to try to shut AA down.

OTOH, if you think that AA is robbing creators and publishers of their hard-earned proceeds, and that loss is greater than the loss to humanity from the destruction of AA, then you wouldn't think AA was a moral good.

Of course, it's all gray in the middle.


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iLoveOncallyesterday at 6:01 PM

I personally don't care about the morality, I'm just pointing out an absurd double standard.

You cannot claim that AI labs are bad for illegally downloading content to build their AI without paying creators, and that AA is good for illegally offering the same content.

I think both are immoral, but I definitely pirate all the content I can (except video games but only because it's unsafe, not to remunerate creators).

It is not grey at all, this is some bullshit that people tell themselves to feel better. Whether it's using the output of AI models or downloading a book on Anna's Archive, you are ultimately robbing the creator of profits.

Nobody on HackerNews would argue otherwise if their employer stole their code from their mind and didn't pay for it.

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