This is the crux of the issue, I believe. It seems to me that one side is arguing that people (as in, individual human beings) already do what the AI is being

This is the crux of the issue, I believe. It seems to me that one side is arguing that people (as in, individual human beings) already do what the AI is being accused of, the other side argues that it's replicating work. The truth of the matter is that what is taking place is a different thing altogether. We do generally deal in a different way with "machine behavior" because we recognize it being automatic and reproducible matters.