Do you ever feel bad for using AI tools?

I use them every day, and I’m deeply torn about it.

On paper, it’s a no-brainer: they make my work easier, save me hours, and free up mental energy for what really matters.

But the reality behind the curtain leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

As a ghostwriter and bookworm, I keep returning to:

• authors spending years crafting something unique, only to see it ingested into LLMs without permission, credit, or compensation;

• books being regularly destroyed just for the sake of AI training;

• the endless sprint to release the next dominant model, pushing safety and accuracy into an afterthought.

And these are just some of the things we keep hearing from companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google.

That leaves me in a constant loop:

I don't want to get left behind, so I keep using these models to stay competitive.

But by using them, am I just endorsing the same practices I disagree with?

Do you feel the same friction? How do you handle it?