Yeah, I don't really get it either. If the artist didn't matter, there would be a huge market for people who can simply copy the most popular artist's style and

Yeah, I don't really get it either. If the artist didn't matter, there would be a huge market for people who can simply copy the most popular artist's style and yet, from my perspective from the anime industry (where AI generation has been especially controversial), that just isn't the case. Companies still pay large amounts of money to get stuff done from the most popular artists despite there being plenty of people who can imitate the style. Similarly, fans tend to be able to recognize the artist and follow their work too. AI isn't going to fill that hole because the artist does matter. AI won't replace artist jobs, although it'll make new kinds of art possible.