  This paper addresses the ways AI ethics research operates on an ideology of
ideal theory, in the sense discussed by Mills (2005) and recently applied to AI
ethics by Fazelpour \& Lipton (2020). I address the structural and
methodological conditions that attract AI ethics researchers to ideal
theorizing, and the consequences this approach has for the quality and future
of our research community. Finally, I discuss the possibilities for a nonideal
future in AI ethics.
