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.
There are several reasons this is a stupid word game, but the most damning is simple pragmatism. Either you have a better label that most people readily agree is better… or they’re gonna keep using the same label. Because words mean what they are used to mean and what they are understood to mean.