Using AI to Create Cultural Content: Ethnographic Insights into Everyday Ethics

This paper explores how small-scale content creators in New Zealand navigate the ethics of using artificial intelligence (AI) in their everyday work. Ethnographic methods including "deep hanging out" and qualitative interviews, were used to study content creators. The paper makes a number of findings. First, users of AI technology may approach it with moral and ethical intentionality, rather than as passive consumers. Second, there is tension between the pressure to create content for the "attention economy" and to maintain ethical practices, especially when dealing with culturally sensitive material. Third, small-scale, relationship-based content creation is valued for maintaining social connections and respecting cultural contexts. This paper highlights the importance of considering scale and everyday user experience when considering the ethics of generative AI.