then suddenly AI art comes about and then it's 'look at my art! AI makes better art than anyone and it's imperative we dump everything into it! you must respect my AI art! you must treat me like an artiste'

I've seen that shit here too. Today.

I think the ideological core of it is the boosters want cheap treats, or even want to feel like artists as "prompt engineers," and refuse to even acknowledge the costs and consequences and would rather shit on working-class artists, writers, and other imperiled people that are supposed to be comrades. No leftist I can respect goes there.