Yeah, if someone goes the full mile to "perfect" the work its very much a passion project that requires considerable amounts of work, though maybe not exactly "skilled" work the same way non-AI art creation would. Though you can certainly combine those two to make some truly great works as well.

One of the issues with this entire ethical debate is that the guy saying "draw this girl giving birth" in some program is getting treated as equal to someone going that extreme mile, despite at some point it clearly becoming a creative endeavor all on its own.

You won't convince people with hate boners over it otherwise, but at the same time too many companies/creators have also gone way too "all in" on it without the proper controls/vetting to make it seamless and functional on any level beyond cost cutting.