#pro ai

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The original argument is simple, almost disarmingly so:

“I don’t care if you use AI… but you should disclose it. It’s about integrity.”

It leans on an analogy:

Using AI without disclosure is like tracing someone else’s art and pretending it’s original.

And then lands here:

If you’re not chasing credit for work you didn’t do, why not just be honest?

Clean. Polite. Morally framed. Completely detached from reality.

Now let’s talk about the part they quietly deleted: context.

Because this whole “just disclose, have integrity” posture only works in a world where disclosure is neutral. Where it doesn’t immediately tank your reach, your income, your social standing, or your inbox sanity.

We do not live in that world.

We live in a moment where saying “I used AI” functions less like a neutral fact and more like pulling a fire alarm in a crowded building full of people who already decided you’re the fire.

So when someone shows up, gently suggesting “why not be honest,” what they’re actually proposing is reputational self-harm framed as a character test.

Very elegant.

Let’s examine the tracing analogy, because it’s doing a lot of emotional labor here.

Tracing was controversial, yes. But tracing never triggered coordinated harassment campaigns, mass dogpiling, or algorithmic suppression. No one was quietly DMing you, “hey, I agree with you but I can’t publicly like this or I’ll get dragged.”

AI does.

So the comparison fails at the only level that matters: consequences.

When consequences differ this dramatically, “integrity” stops being a moral absolute and starts being a luxury good.

And then there’s this charming implication:

“If you’re not trying to get credit for something you didn’t do, why not disclose?”

Let’s translate that out of moral theater into something usable.

Why wouldn’t someone disclose?

Because disclosure measurably reduces engagement

Because engagement is often tied to income

Because audiences are currently incentivized to punish, not evaluate

Because platforms reward outrage, not nuance

Because people enjoy moral purity tests when they’re not the ones being tested

None of this is abstract. It’s basic incentive design.

You don’t get honesty out of hostile systems. You get concealment, signaling, and selective silence.

There’s also a subtle sleight of hand in the word “integrity.”

Integrity here is framed as consistency between action and disclosure.

But in practice, what’s being demanded is something closer to ritual self-labeling for the comfort of an audience that has already decided what the label means.

Are we really talking about integrity?

No. We’re talking about legibility under threat.

And the funniest part is that the same environment that punishes disclosure will, without hesitation, accuse people of dishonesty for not disclosing.

A closed loop.

Punish → conceal → moralize concealment → punish harder.

Then act surprised that people opt out.

If you strip away the moral framing, what remains is almost embarrassingly pragmatic:

People reveal information when the cost of revealing it is lower than the cost of hiding it.

Right now, for many artists, the math is obvious.

So no, the question isn’t “why aren’t people more honest.”

Sources:

Water use:

https://www.foodfacts.org/articles/how-much-water-does-ai-use-vs-livestock

Land use:

https://ourworldindata.org/global-land-for-agriculture

https://unu.edu/inweh/collection/environmental-cost-of-AIs-Enrgy-Use-Carbon-water-and-land-footprints

Greenhouse gas emissions:

https://www.iea.org/reports/electricity-2024

https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/06/1167658

https://www.fao.org/statistics/highlights-archive/highlights-detail/greenhouse-gas-emissions-from-agrifood-systems.-global--regional-and-country-trends--2000-2022/en

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