Back in the day you would either get an essay from someone that already took the class (Professors usually reuse the same topics for their papers) or would pay someone to write it for you.
Both of which are a lot more difficult than using AI. You can't pay someone who doesn't know the subject and even if you know someone who did the class before they might not have their old essays, they might be for different questions, and they might not want to give them to you, plus you'd have to change the arguments to be sure you won't get busted for copying.
Back in the day you would either get an essay from someone that already took the class (Professors usually reuse the same topics for their papers) or would pay someone to write it for you.
Both of which are a lot more difficult than using AI. You can't pay someone who doesn't know the subject and even if you know someone who did the class before they might not have their old essays, they might be for different questions, and they might not want to give them to you, plus you'd have to change the arguments to be sure you won't get busted for copying.