The situational ethics of stickers (lightning talk, no talk track)

How my AI-generated sticker hobby forced me to grapple with questions about AI, training data, and whether or not using these tools is something I can ethically do. This is a five minute lightning talk version of the longer argument at https://charitydotwtf.substack.com/p/make-ai-boring-again. I uploaded a version with the speaker notes separately.

Transcript

1. The situational ethics of stickers Charity Majors
2. 2 © 2025 Hound Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. I have always loved color.
3. 3 © 2025 Hound Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. “Good people who care about artists don’t use AI to generate images”
4. 4 © 2025 Hound Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. My early efforts were eyesores
5. 5 © 2025 Hound Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. But I got better
6. 6 © 2025 Hound Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Why do I like this better than that? Why does this look stupid and that doesn’t?
7. 7 © 2025 Hound Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Why do I like this better than that?
8. 8 © 2025 Hound Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Why do these colors call to me? Why do I like this book cover? Why don’t I like that one?
9. 9 © 2025 Hound Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Book covers were an incredible level up. They already have a coherent visual language.
10. 10 © 2025 Hound Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Cover designed by Joanne O’Neill
11. 11 © 2025 Hound Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. …shit. This is deeply personal. What about ethics? What about artists?
12. 12 © 2025 Hound Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Was it legal? I don’t know. Was it right? No. Ethics, morals, and the law are three different things.
13. 13 © 2025 Hound Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. There are A LOT of ethical, moral, legal, environmental, and other problems with AI. This does not mean AI is uniquely evil or corrupt. It means we have work to do.
14. 14 © 2025 Hound Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. I disagree that this means we should abstain from using and mastering the tools. I think we have an obligation to use and master the tools, and participate in their governance. AI is just technology.
15. 15 © 2025 Hound Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. The argument to unilaterally disarm in the face of powerful new tools is an appeal to purity. It slips easily into narcissism and performance art. The quest for purity fuels every fundamentalism on the left or right.
16. 16 © 2025 Hound Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Action is more powerful than abstention. If you say you support artists… SUPPORT ARTISTS Everyone is frustrated right now. It’s a GREAT time to propose new ways of working and being together.
17. 17 © 2025 Hound Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. And stickers are pretty, and art is nice.