The basic idea behind the expression 'AI vegan' is that abstaining from using AI is like being vegan because vegans abstain from eating animal products. In other words, if you don’t do something, you can now use the word ‘vegan’ to explain that. Yet again, this shows just how little we care about the issue of animal exploitation. The word ‘vegan’ is not a synonym for the word 'abstinence' - it’s about rejecting animal exploitation and our speciesist moral standards.
ED WINTERS: The Guardian has an article with the headline ‘Meet the AI Vegans’. It seems there are those who claim that avoiding using AI is somehow analogous to being vegan, and that not using AI means that you are an ‘AI vegan’… Well, how about a post where the author declares, ‘My LinkedIn Content Agency is going AI Vegan for the next 30 days. Here’s why”…
The basic idea, and the word basic is very apt in this case, is that abstaining from using AI is like being vegan because vegans abstain from eating animal products. In other words, if you don’t do something, you can now use the word ‘vegan’ to explain that. No longer do you simply not use heroin, you are now a ‘heroin vegan’…
No, not using ChatGPT for 30 days is not equivalent to being vegan, and using the term ‘vegan’ as a marketing tool to promote a content agency yet again shows just how little we care about the issue of animal exploitation.
The word ‘vegan’ is not a synonym for the word ‘abstinence’ – it’s about rejecting animal exploitation and our speciesist moral standards. It is so frustrating having veganism constantly misrepresented and the plight of animals overlooked and minimised.
Needless to say, please don’t use an ethical philosophy that exists to protect animals as a marketing tool to try and promote your LinkedIn content agency.
Another writer has also used the term ‘AI vegan’, albeit in a slightly different context. The crux of their argument is that vegans don’t eat animal products because there are ethical, environmental and health issues associated with them, so not using AI because of ethical, environmental or health reasons means that you are an ‘AI vegan’.
While this approach at least takes into account the reasons why people stop eating animal products, and narrows the use of the term ‘AI vegan’ to something more specific than just abstinence from something, it still overlooks what veganism actually is.
In the same way that humanism is an ethical philosophy that prioritises using reason and empathy when it comes to our treatment of one another, veganism is an ethical philosophy that does the same with non-human animals. Veganism is not about health or even the environment, it is an ethical framework which also has benefits to both our health and the environment…
To add insult to injury, the people using the term ‘AI vegan’ are not even using it as a means of promoting veganism alongside not using AI. They’re not claiming that they themselves are vegan and that’s why they’re using the term, or making the point that there’s a lot of conversation around water use for AI, but have we considered the amount of water needed to produce animal products.
The word ‘vegan’ is seen as just a label instead of as a serious ethical issue worthy of being viewed within its own right. Appropriating it in these ways is reductive and makes veganism seem arbitrary and lacking any real substance…
If we allow the word ‘vegan’ to be used in any context like this, we are going to dilute its true meaning and what it actually seeks to achieve.
Plus, people are already looking for any reason to dislike veganism and the word ‘vegan’, so applying it to situations which are going to elicit eye rolls is just offering more of an excuse to associate the word ‘vegan’ with something negative. SOURCE…
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