I think the development of Generative models for images and audio has more to do with the fact that Computer Vision research goes back decades, and the same systems that originally recognized and labeled images or audio were tweaked to invert the process - and it became naturally an intriguing topic of development precisely because creation is seen as an innately human thing. Beyond that, I'd speculate that the reason we keep seeing developments in "the arts" (though I disagree that an AI can make art, even if it can make beautiful images or music) is because there's no readily-agreed-upon value for that task.

An AI CPA has a specific economic value, but is also a commodity service that no one wants unless they need it. Since there's a clearly comparable cost for needed CPA services, then naturally creating an AI system to do it has a readily comparable market price. People aren't going to make that AI system unless they can do it in way that will make be an improvement as compared to that existing service and price.

I think "just because" has always been a justifiable reason for humans creating beauty (not the same as making art), so it works for research projects better than building a better mousetrap.

Thanks for the thoughtful reply! You've given me some stuff to think about

I'd bet the 'scrubs' making AI art are enjoying it so to twist your words why would you force them to do the do work they don't enjoy (learning to paint) to get the part they do. You obviously wouldn't decry a painter for not making their art by carving marble or the Mona Lisa for not being as big as The Creation of Adam (funilly enough the Mona Lisa took longer to paint). Though I do feel for the 'real artists' who probably aren't enjoying being forced by economic considerations to output what they view as crap quality using those tools.

Having said that I bet you're seeing many more developers creating AI art stuff because frankly there are many more developers who enjoy making art and being creative that than there are developers who enjoy creating AI CPA or AI citation stuff. So the getting-rid-of-unenjoyable-work-AI stuff is mainly being made by those seeking a profit and it's naturally much less open as they'll sell it as soloutions to those seeking it.

I assume you're just being tongue-in-cheekfully dramatic, but the answer of course, is that there are AIs for those things, but they're under much less demand and are much less controversial.