other media that humans enjoy creating themselves Yes, “other media”. Not “art”. Decorative filler for emptiness lacking any sense, manufactured to trigger expected reactions. Gigabytes of nonsense texts to put some ad revenue driven sites on top of other, less technologically advanced. Ask people who produced that before whether they enjoyed it.

Weren't the machines supposed to make labour easier? Those new “machines” were supposed to make certain activities even cheaper than hiring the cheapest workers, and make companies owning them indispensable providers for most businesses. That's how they intend to make money. Laborers can now do some other shitty job for new kings.

Is the current gen AI state a stepping stone to much more useful applications? No, it's just marketing.