ethically using ai?? part 1
context
a wise work mentor and her autistic colleague hinted to me about the ethics of using ai that i didn't really examine until she brought it up. so, i’ve been researching this topic to discover where ireally stand on this after i see how the “ai sausage” is really made. this will inform both my own behaviors and how i work with others or what irecommend to them.
first, please bear with me while i talk about something completely unrelated to ai. there will be nothing mentioned about ai nor any technical jargon in this piece, but my own lived ethical reasoning and approach on a topic unrelated, older, and less ethically nuanced than ai (imho, at least) will be laid wide open. i don't claim to have the answers for anyone except but myself and even then there are certain things i’m still figuring out. my reason to doing this is so you can see if my sense of ethics is compatible or tolerable to yours. if it’s not, then anything i write after this will be a waste of your time no matter how rationally, well argued, and smart sounding it is.
is all milk unethical?
dairy milk consumption supports what is typically an extremely unethical industry - the dairy business. most dairy cows are in large scale dairy farms where they are separated from their mother at birth, fed milk replacements and weaned until they are old enough to be artificially impregnated and they then experience separation of their calf like they were separated from their mother. they’ll be milked two to three times a day living out their life in a barn and probably will never visit a pasture where they belong. they will be bred and milked repeatedly until they are no longer considered viable or effective for milking at which point they will be sent to the slaughterhouse - likely at a third to a fourth of her total lifespan. this is the life of the typical dairy cow. this is what we support and enable everytime we buy milk. a youtube video or visiting a dairy farm in person will communicate the life of a dairy cow far better than i can ever do with a bunch of symbols on a screen or sounds with my mouth.
it would be hard to argue that the dairy industry is not unethical. so, we can conclude that drinking milk at all is unethical because we are basically supporting this unethical industry, right?
actually no, not at all. not all milk comes from sentient beings. and whether or not it comes from sentient beings, they are not all made the same either. there are other kinds of milk besides dairy milk like almond, oat, rice, soy, coconut and recently even hemp and pea. none of these involve cows. and yet, even among the plant milks there are significant differences in ethics and other factors. here’s a table* comparing the ethics of various milks.
ethics comparison table of various milk sources*
| Milk | Animal harm | Water use | Greenhouse gas | Labor concerns | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cow | Severe — calf separation, ~4-yr lifespan vs ~20 natural, poorliving conditions, slaughter at end | Very high (~600–1,000 L per L milk) | Very high (~3 kg CO₂e/L, ~9 m²/L) | Significant in US — immigrant labor abuse, wage theft, dangerous conditions well-documented in WI, NY, VT dairies; Fair Food Program coverage is minimal | Methane; antibiotic use; manure runoff |
| Almond | Industrial pollination kills millions of honeybees annually (rented hive collapse) | High (~370 L/L); concentrated in drought-stressed CA Central Valley, drives groundwater depletion | Low | California ag labor — heat exposure, wage issues, immigration vulnerability | Monoculture pressure on pollinator health overall |
| Soy | None direct | Low (~28 L/L) | Low | Variable by source — deforestation soy (Amazon, Cerrado) is overwhelmingly for animal feed, not soymilk, but worth checking origin | Common allergen |
| Oat | None direct | Low (~48 L/L) | Low | Generally lower concern (temperate grain regions) | Glyphosate residue concerns — oats are often desiccated pre-harvest |
| Rice | None direct | Moderate (~270 L/L) | Methane from flooded paddies | Variable; SE Asian rice labor concerns in some regions | Arsenic bioaccumulation; nutritionally thinnest option |
| Coconut | "Monkey labor" — chained pig-tailed macaques forced to harvest coconuts in Thailand (PETA investigations, several retailers have dropped Thai sources) | Low | Low | Severe — exploitative wages and conditions documented in Philippines and Indonesia | Tropical land conversion in some regions |
| Cashew | None to the tree | Moderate | Moderate | Severe — cashew shells contain caustic oil that burns workers' hands (mostly women) in India and Vietnam; very low wages, often no PPE | |
| Pea | None direct | Low | Low; peas fix nitrogen, benefiting soil | Generally low | Newer category, less third-party data |
| Hemp | None direct | Very low | Low | Low | Niche availability, more expensive |
the tl; dr; of it?
- dairy milk involves great suffering and killing of a sentient animal, lots of water use, greenhouse gases, and labor abuse. i think we can unanimously agree this is up there as among the worst options if not the worst.
- almond milk farming causes deaths of millions of bees and uses like 50+ liters of water per liter of almond milk with labor issues. So even though there isn’t sentiet animal suffering and as much problems as dairy milk, it is not without substantial problems to important species and ecosystems. i think this is still a very problematic milk and makes me think it’s either right there or right below dairy milk despite being a plant based milk with very different set of problems.
- cashew milk have no consequences to animals directly, but can be dangerous to workers and involve very low wages and exploitative conditions. Human suffering.
- soy, oat, rice, pea, and hemp are the most ethical when comparing across these facets. They may or may not have problems in one or more of these facets, but these may have none, slight, or at least the least total problems and/or suffering combined compared to the others. they may either be more expensive or less nutritious or harder to get though generally still available in most supermarkets.
what i hope to demonstrate from this is that we don’t have to give up all milk because not all milk is dairy milk. there are more ethical sources of milk.
when ethical ideals meet reality
oh, what was that? real life is really complicated? real life is excellent yet unforgiving in how it puts up a mirror on where our ethics truly are. where rubber meats the road. and frankly, i’m grateful for it. otherwise we would all be in fantasy land and in our ivy chair up high. even after i finally switched over from dairy milk to plant based milk for my own life several years ago, it turned out i was far from being done.
i’ve still been buying dairy milk mostly because my wife and i have a toddler and i’m not too eager to experiment with my son’s health. even if i was confident in a dairy milk substitute for my toddler (for e.g. i’ve read that soy milk is a good substitute for dairy for toddlers and secondarily fortified peak milk), it’s unlikely that i could have convinced my wife without it causing a significant strain in our family and relationship - my wife and i have enough challenges as it is! she doesn’t even have complete confidence in many of my vegan choices despite me also looking carefully at health, nutritrional profile, and ingredients because many of them are still heavily processed and they are more expensive which is understandable. i don’t know if not destroying my family and marriage to continue supporting an unethical industry was the right call, but at least to me, it was not a simple decision. however, that doesn’t mean we can’t do better even if we buy dairy milk.
i’m gonna skip dairy milk and go to chicken eggs because this one i’ve been able to figure out for our situation. egg laying hens are similarly put in very terrible living conditions as their cow sisters. i’ve also given up eggs, but my family eats eggs for nutritional needs. instead of destroying my family over my vegan principles, what we’ve been able to successfully do here is to switch from the caged or cage free eggs (which is actually only marginally better) we used to buy to buying pasture raised eggs. my wife actually enjoys the taste better, wants to make the more ethical decision, and it’s the most ethical tier you can buy from the supermarket (confirmed by research and talking to a local farmer). the only real tradeoff is price and that there are still differences between particular brands and local farms, but it is still a world of difference from the typical caged or cage free eggs. so while the most ethical eggs you can eat is not eating eggs, if you are in a situation like mine where eggs are going to be bought and eaten, you can a least buy the most ethical eggs you can afford. in fact, i think this is the smartest long term solution i made for my unique situation. let’s take an extreme situation - my wife and i divorce because we can’t agree on ethical food sourcing in the house. i will continue to not eating eggs. she will continue to buying the cheapest eggs which will be caged or cagefree and she might even purposely not buy pasture raised eggs due to believing that pasture raised eggs ruined her marriage and family. if my son ends up spending most of his time with her, perhaps my son subtly believes daddy loves being on his high horse and being morally superior more than his family.
like here’s a mathematically contrived scenario. take it with a grain of salt and only relatively because how do you truly quantify unethicalness?
1 point of suffering per pasture raised egg. 5 points of suffering per cage or cage free eggs. if our household eats about 200 eggs in a year, it’s 200 points of suffering vs 1000 points of suffering per year.
Over 30 years, that’s 6000 points of suffering vs 30,000 points of suffering. By choosing to meet them where they are, we can have 6000 points of suffering. if i decide to breakup the family over it, it would be 30000 points of suffering. And it’s not just this one measure. Having a relationship with my wife and son is bidirectional. We make each other more ethical and loving. These numbers do not take into account all the other things that would be affected so really, the difference is far more drastic than these numbers indicated. And it also doesn’t take into account trajectory. There is a non-trivial chance that my wife or son will one day stop eating eggs - maybe in 10 years as an example at which point it would mean 2000 points vs 30,000 points.
what about ethical dairy milk?
now back to dairy milk. the following is something that i’m literally working through as i’m writing this. i’m not yet sure how we will source dairy milk because dairy milk isn’t as clearly labeled, more expensive, and still kind of sucks for anything we can purchase at the supermarket unless we commit to a local farmer we know. and yet, i know that anything is better than the default/conventional dairy milk. every day i delay making a decision, as imperfect as it is, the longer i support and enable the unethical players. here’s a table below comparing the various sources of dairy milk compared on similar facets to the table above.
ethics comparison table of various dairy milk sources*
| Milk | Animal harm | Water use | Greenhouse gas | Labor concerns | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conventional (CAFO) | Severe — calf separation within 24–48 hrs, ~4–5 yr productive lifespan vs ~20 natural, confinement, dehorning/disbudding often without anesthesia, tail docking (declining), male calves → veal or beef, all cows slaughtered at end of productive life | Very high (~600–1,000 L/L) | Very high (~3 kg CO₂e/L) | Significant in US — immigrant labor abuse, wage theft, dangerous conditions in WI/NY/VT/CA dairies; Fair Food Program coverage minimal | rBST permitted, routine antibiotic exposure, manure lagoons, nitrate runoff |
| USDA Organic | Same structural practices (calf separation, end-of-life slaughter). Pasture access required (min 120 days/yr, 30% DMI from grass in season), no rBST, antibiotics prohibited — sick cows must leave the organic herd to be treated, often sold for slaughter | Comparable; sometimes higher per L due to lower yields | Comparable or slightly higher per L (lower yields can offset feed/management gains) | Same as conventional — organic certification does not address labor | No synthetic pesticides on feed, no GMO feed; "antibiotic-purist" rule creates perverse incentive to cull rather than treat |
| Pasture-raised / 100% grass-fed | Better welfare during life (outdoor time, natural diet, lower stocking density) but calf separation and end-of-life slaughter remain standard. American Grassfed Association (AGA) is the most rigorous certification | Lower direct water; higher land use | Contested — lower yields can mean higher per-L emissions, but well-managed grazing can sequester soil carbon; net climate impact disputed | Variable; certifications generally don't address labor | Different fatty acid profile (more omega-3, CLA); higher land footprint is a real tradeoff |
| Certified Humane / Animal Welfare Approved (A Greener World) | Audited welfare standards — some painful procedures restricted, more space, outdoor access required. Calf separation and slaughter still permitted under all programs. AWA is the most stringent | Variable | Variable | Welfare certifications generally do not address labor | Third-party verified; standards differ significantly — Certified Humane allows practices AWA prohibits |
| Local small farm | Highly variable — depends entirely on the specific operation. Calf separation typically still standard. Direct relationship enables actual verification (you can visit) | Lower transport water; production-side comparable to source category | Lower transport emissions; production-side comparable | Variable — family-run vs. small farms using migrant labor; no certification covers this | Direct sales support local economy; price premium typical; raw milk often available where legal |
| Raw milk | Welfare profile inherits from source farm (could be any of the above) | Same as source | Same as source | Same as source | Pathogen risk (Listeria, E. coli, Salmonella, Brucella, Campylobacter); interstate sale illegal in US; claimed health benefits largely unsupported |
| Regenerative dairy | Same structural practices (separation, slaughter); welfare often better during life via rotational grazing | Often lower; land-based water cycling | Carbon-sequestration claims contested — well-managed grazing can build soil carbon, but "carbon-negative" labels typically exceed evidence | Variable; few labor standards | No standardized certification — "regenerative" is mostly unverified marketing unless paired with AGA, AWA, or Savory Institute Land to Market verification |
tl dr of it?
- unlike for prior comparison, this one is more complicated and what i can conclude is that the most ethical milk is not using dairy at all, frankly. even if a cow has a wonderful life, there is most likely going to be calf separation and slaughter - otherwise it makes for a business that is probably not going to be viable.
- the only exception to the above could be a local farmer who has total control and is likely not using the cows as a primary source of revenue. cows are not separated from their calves at birth and not slaughtered after they can no longer be viable for milk. this cannot be milk you buy from the supermarket and would even be a rare local farm.
- the second best tier are certified human or animal welfare certified cows that do have a good life while they are still alive. they have many practices and living conditions regulated. they will still have calf separation and be slaughtered. i’ve yet to see this at a supermarket.
- pasture raised/100% grass fed/regenerative dairy is right below at third tier - the cows have a good life and get to live naturally on the pastures like second tier, but less regulatated. this is the best i’ve seen from my local supermarkets.
- USDA organic - fourth tier - there is a minimum amount of pasture time per day, but it really isn’t much.
- conventional - worst - this is the status quo and it’s terrible.
while the most ethical source of eggs you can buy from the supermarket can be pretty ethical imo, i can’t make the same conclusion about dairy milk. there seems to be a ceiling inherent to it being a viable business unfortunately.
milk is nutritious and delicious, but at what cost, right? just because dairy milk is largely unethically sourced, we don’t have to give up all milk. there are more ethical sources like certain plant based milks. and if one absolutely must stick to dairy milk, while there is a practical ethical ceiling, there are more or less ethical sources of milk that can make a world of difference to the lives of the poor cows we are milking. it comes down to what level you can tolerate. now, i understand while i am writing about this - for some, making the more ethical decision is financially inaccessible. i can’t ignore that. but first, i wanted to make it clear that it’s first and foremost possible to ethically buy milk and buy relatively more ethical sources of dairy milk (or eggs) if one must do so.
*both tables have been generated with claude so the exact figures, data, or information may be off, but it should be directionally right.