Okay but you can acknowledge the exploitation whilst also admitting that AI doesn't make art and what it does make is universally bad. The fact it's using exploited labour and is being used to threaten jobs makes the fact its output sucks even more of a slap in the face. These ideas are not in tension; two things can be true.

Art means something. Art is any creation that meaningfully expresses the intent of its creator. If you want to make art, you need to understand meaning, and current "AI" is devoid of meaning or understanding. It's not about some nebulous "spark", it's that there is no intention behind an LLM's output. It is a stochastic parrot.

Maybe a person can use AI generated imagery to make something with artistic merit, but that's because their time and attention was put into curating it, not because an AI drew a picture that seems plausible if you don't look at it too closely.

An AI needs to have comprehension before it can intend anything. Art isn't "art" just because it makes pretty pictures.

If you want to say AI as it currently exists can make art, then I'd be fascinated to hear what you think art is, and how your definition differs from mine.