That’s why there were so many characters. New characters were invented. New crossovers. New story arcs.

We know that, but it’s a slow creep of sludge and most decision makers see the cost go down and rejoice

I know several companies which have stopped paying for stock photos and using AI laundered images or using AI to remove watermarks without any skills in image editing softwares.

Is it replacing jobs? I don’t know the economics of this field well enough to know what cut the photographer gets, but I know that there’s less cash flowing into this sector due to genAI

If the growth goes away, people have to wonder what they are getting in exchange, in any system, not just capitalism. For example, this is the same expectation people have from the Communist Party in China. Most people will agree that givint up their freedoms was worth the huge improvement in quality of life.