I know I expressed this already but the wind analogy doesn't work here. It isn't random nor undirected.

As far as copying goes - considering your staunch stance on what is and isn't art I think it's fair to say you have some involvement with it.

Regardless of the medium we all start the same way. Imitation. In traditional art we are trained by observing what the masses find pleasing. When we observe most artists work we can identify these roots. Very few artists art is not based in the works of those before them.

This article does a fine job of expressing the above.

AI assisted (generative) art is a tool that provides a user access to a compendium of learned styles. It lowers the barrier of entry to express yourself through art.

I posit that this is such a divisive topic because there is so little difference between how we learn and how these models do. It garners a lot of the same negativity that a prodigy might. "Why is it so easy for them when I worked so hard. They don't appreciate it as much as me."

In the end art belongs to nobody and everybody. Art is amorphous; formless. Art and artistic expression can exist anywhere- even here. I personally am not so high minded to gatekeep such a broad field.