and means lower costs, see: "reasons people like the march of progress for 100"

Objectively incorrect. The actual costs of AI "art" are astronomically higher than the costs of hiring artists. When was the last time an artist needed a fission reactor and enough potable water to supply a moderately sized city over the course of their lives, much less for the completion of a project?

The corpos running the scam just haven't made the financial costs to end users align with reality yet. They're trying to destroy livelihoods and get businesses stuck in vendor lock-in first so that they have no competition when they open the valves of the real costs. Generative AI under this hyper-capitalist regime is a net negative for the species.