It's great that you stuck to your guns, but there's another ethical path forward: transparency. Many companies already pay third party employees to look at their schedule, so it's not a non-starter. And there are a few VCs out there that understand training costs for AI and are willing to engage with a journey that includes them - as long as the cards are on the table.

What we need is a set of accounting metrics about the cost of training and the rate of improvement, so that VCs can get comfy with how to make projections rather than choosing between buying snake oil and nit participating in the AI Dev cycle.

PS - emphatically not taking aim here at your specific decision, OP. Startups have different opportunities and interests, and these decisions are tough. I'm sure you know better than I do whether the ethical wizard-of-oz model above is relevant to you in particular.