Artists obviously have to respect and help each other, but I also think it's worth noting how some historically weren't always the nicest or happiest people.

On one hand, there's guys like Stanley Kubrick who wanted his movies to be so perfect he throws away any unused clip and forces like a hundred takes just to get a scene right. On another, there's guys like Harlan Ellison who made his stories that way because he was angry at various subjects and had something to say about them.

Because lately, people idealized the cute wholesome idea of an artist, that's a "smol bean" that doesn't threaten anybody. But besides people forgetting that some artists were always horny, seeking some sort of attraction/idealization or wanting to touch taboo subjects and break norms, there's also how some either wanted their works to evolve so much even if they came off as sociopaths or felt people needed to see/hear something they're not comfortable with.

And people give guys like Alan Moore or Miyazaki shit for being grumpy and all, but they still did stuff people declare good and sometimes, their personalities can at least be part of it.

(Plus, most people online don't research these guys so everyone is all second hand info and meme based anyway).

Going back to people having cutesy, innocent ideas of what artists should be, it could also be a side effect of fandom culture where art exists for fandom's sake than actually for the artists' sake.

"Who is this for" might as well be an anti-art question because it implies art is just "content" (There's that word again).

Basically, AI art is a side effect of lots of things like this one for example.