Maybe you don’t have any need to enslave them, because they don’t want to do anything you wouldn’t approve of to begin with, or even because they innately want to do things you want
Potentially, but that makes them HPMOR House Elves, and many people feel that keeping those House Elves in servitude is still bad, even if they don’t want any other life. So I agree that is pretty much the one way to thread the needle—“I did not build a slave nor a rival, I built a friend”—but the problems are exactly as you outline. Even if we do accept it as OK (and again, I expect it would be a matter of contention), you’d have to go through a lot of digital lobotomies and failed experiments that need putting down before getting at that, even if you get there at all.
Potentially, but that makes them HPMOR House Elves, and many people feel that keeping those House Elves in servitude is still bad, even if they don’t want any other life. So I agree that is pretty much the one way to thread the needle—“I did not build a slave nor a rival, I built a friend”—but the problems are exactly as you outline. Even if we do accept it as OK (and again, I expect it would be a matter of contention), you’d have to go through a lot of digital lobotomies and failed experiments that need putting down before getting at that, even if you get there at all.