Ah yes,the moronic statement which forgets that people do not have time to just pick up a skill and do it to a satisfactory level,the exact same statement some have made about learning a language,more so when they need the work on a deadline.
Spend years toiling away past the deadline,pay a relatively large sum to some other human who might not even get the work done(among other human aspects)before the deadline...or a small to no sum for results in mere seconds that can be tinkered with to get the desired result well under budget and below the deadline.
Time is money,and not everyone has ample amounts for both to add in more that consumes them.
Also,yes,there is a skill to using AI art,the real big shots have had already spent their time and money into coding,allowing them to better manipulate the output,they are at no ones' mercy other then their own.
And don't like what you get?,just re-roll the dice and spin again!
Respect?,online?,you clearly haven't been around long enough,and you're forgetting the protection that your online mask provides.
Yeah,no one gives a damn,more so when asked to spend anything for a publication that isn't translated,isn't available in their region,and/or for a cost that far outweighs what they get,more so ones and zeros that can be ripped away from them at anytime,and plenty of places will NEVER become as viable as these interweb high seas full of plundered booty.
The vast of majority of us are here because we have no other means,nor excess means to drop on these hobbies.
So your solution to not "stealing" indirectly is to "steal" directly?...
By the end of the day,it's decent artworks for little time and cost en masse for the common folk,and any n' all pushback is pointless this late in,the real effort should be put in to make sure that Judgement Day doesn't arrive.