Another thing I wanted to post because I already wrote it and then decided it was perhaps too long for someone's comments thread ^^;:

I don't even entirely disagree [with the argument that AI "art" is not art proper and would have more artistic value if it were produced in collaboration with a commissioned visual artist] -- I just think that in a world of limited time, money, and personal resources, not everything needs to be art. AI memes make people snicker at a time when it can be difficult to summon even a smile. Folks are using AI to model and 3d print miniatures with the likenesses of dead loved ones, citing the activity and output as helping them to bear their grief. Others are using AI to generate political cartoons and flyers and images of resistance -- graphics that better enable them to communicate their viewpoints and allegiances in a visual-oriented landscape. (Should effective political expression only be reserved for those with sufficient capital to pay propaganda artists?)

Maybe these outputs don't qualify as art; many of the folks generating them would not claim that they do. But I don't think that means they don't have value -- because it's less important that they adhere to some lofty human artistic vision than that they happen quickly and cheaply and serve their purpose despite lacking an expert's touch. In many cases, while I'd agree that in an unbounded world where Art was All and we all had infinity and wisdom to appreciate it endlessly, I think that bringing in a human artist collaborator would actually *diminish* their practical benefits on the user end here. A funny visual joke lands no matter how many fingers a character sports on a given hand (if you're me, multiple fingers/limbs may even make it funnier), and if by its very nature it's forgettable then it seems a waste of time for a real artist to pour so much human effort into it. It's not intended to be art. But if it makes people laugh -- if it makes even the person generating it laugh -- I'm kinda okay with it. I don't see the harm. That one image (or even the dozens of images that might have been generated during the course of refining it) isn't responsible for worsening climate change or other environmental collapse.

Perhaps more succinctly put: I think slop has its place, is not without value, and does not even necessarily lack meaning. While I may agree that AI slop isn't art and/or would have more artistic value with more human technique behind it, I'm okay with slop having a lane all its own.