Setting aside the usual arguments on the anti- and pro-AI art debate and the nature of creativity itself, perhaps the negative reaction that the Redditor encountered is part of a sea change in opinion among many people that think corporate AI platforms are exploitive and extractive in nature because their datasets rely on copyrighted material without the original artists’ permission. And that’s without getting into AI’s negative drag on the environment.
That’s not how most people using it creatively are doing it though, have you seen the actual workflows people use? Inpainting and stuff, it can be just as involved as collage or other artforms.
For real, most of the people in this thread have no idea how any of these tools work.