I read the first article, and I recommended you do as well, as it's the best take I have seen on image generation.
It sounds like you and your friend both have your minds made up already, but reality is more nuanced, and the truth is somewhere inbetween.
"AI art" isn't copyright infringement, or "stealing", but it's also not art. It's a neutral technology.
I agree it is being used unethically (and overused) by corporations, but it's fundamentally a problem with how our society uses and reacts to it. Like so many other new technologies, the true issue is with capitalism, not the tech itself.