Blog Post 1
Published on:
– title: ‘Blog 1: Ethical Frameworks in Article’ date: 2025-09-16 permalink: /posts/2025/09/blog-post-1/ tags:
- YouTube
- AI
- Utilitarianism
Natural Law
YouTube ran experiments on creators’ videos without their consent. This could damage the trust that the YouTubers have with their audience.
News Article:
YouTube secretly used AI to edit people’s videos. The results could bend reality
In today’s blog, I will be discussing a recent controversy between YouTube and its content creators. The article that talk about the controversy is from BBC and it goes into great detail what the broader issues at play are and who is impacted by YouTube’s actions.
The reason I chose the article is that I am a YouTube user myself so I felt the need to investigate about what is going on with a platform I rely on a lot for information. Another reason the article caught my attention is that it involves a disucssion of AI, a field that is rapidly evolving and requires constant awareness in order to keep up with it.
As this blog pertains to ethical of discussions of current events, some of the ethical concerns in today’s article include ownership rights, trust between audience and YouTube creators and the general fear of what AI is going to contribute to our conception of reality.
The first stakeholder in question is YouTube itself. They have decided to use AI to manipulate videos in the name of improving their quality. However, the concern is that this was done without the owners’ consent.
In the light of this, YouTube content creators have began complaining with their main concern that YouTube’s actions can easily damage their reputation and the trust that they have with their humongous audience.
In the conversation, there is also casual YouTube users like me who use YouTube for educational or entertainment purposes. Our concern is the fact that we end up consuming surreal content because of the AI edits made by YouTube.
Lastly, disinformation studies experts have heavily criticized YouTube for tricking the public on what methods are being used to improve the users’ experience and fear that YouTube’s actions risk blurring the lines of what users can trust online.
Overall, the controversy can best be analyzed under two main ethical frameworks. The first is Utilitarianism that is exemplified in how YouTube markets itself as striving to improve the user experience by running experiments. The seamingly good intents can come off wrong especially when the owners of the videos are not kept in the loop giving birth to further ethical dilemmas.
The second ethical framework to help us interpret the controversy is the Natural Law theory. In a perfect world, YouTube is supposed to give full autonomy to its creators in deciding what should be included in their videos and making sure to get their consent should there be any need to tamper with the content. The reality we have however is YouTube not respecting ownership rights by modifying videos that are not their own property without letting the owners know first.
Personal Reflection
The making of this blog post was eye opening. It made me consider how the right intentions do not always get realized without problems. This exercise has also made me aware of different ways unethical ways that AI is being used and this has me wondering what could reality look like in the near future.