Sure it can. But for what reason? And what exactly do you want to put under punishment? Looking at public available images? Painting in the style of a living artist? That's all things that human artists does too. Imho the real reason why AI is hated is because it is a competitor for traditional artists. And because of hurt…
So technology got us where we are. People are getting spoiled and bored out of their mind, living for instant gratification, lip-sync quotes from movies pretending to be actors, doing their stupid little dances for likes, people no longer need to remember anything because their phone is "smart", many people can´t count…
Well, for me it is simply a tool like Photoshop :) You still underestimate the effort to create something really good looking with AI. It is not enough to type in a few words. You still, and even more than in traditional art, need the artistic skills and knowledge to steer the AI where you want it to be. Else it will go…