Go check out the great work posted at the FB group "Traveller RPG AI Tools" or "Dungeons and AI" - it can hardly be called "AI slop" and honestly, as the viewer you have no idea whether an image contains 1% AI or 100% AI. I've had users tell me they couldn't distinguish my work from paintings published in D&D rulebooks, (I did a series on classic D&D spells - you can find it on my author page on FB). When you are postng in a group of people putting out high quality content, you don't see a lot of slop in that competitive area.
I'm a multimedia artist with an art degree - adding AI to my toolkit didn't take away my credentials. I didn't want to be an artist who lost my job to AI so I learned how to use it to bring my vision of my Traveller universe to life. With some success. The stuff you will see in my galleries isn't "AI slop" straight out of the AI's butt - it is taken into multiple programs, edited, manipulated, enhanced, and put together with intention and purpose from the beginning - its not random.
Putting that together took expertise across multiple programs; it wasn't random and it took hours to produce. I haven't seen a lot of videos with lifelike characters wearing Vilani name tags. It's a process that's not as easy as people make it out to be.
I think expansions with AI art are better than no expansion at all.
Can you get a lot of weird looking stuff out of midjourney? Yes - but that's not he only program in the world, and it does take training and skill to get good at this - I can add or remove anything I want from an AI scene - and my AI artwork is largely copyrightable, since it is based on my underlying art in many instances.
Indie producers don't have budgets for professional art, and good AI art (I take commissions) can bring a lot of beauty into the world of Traveller (or D&D, GammaWorld, take your pick). As a commercial artist with over 40 years in the industry, I wouldn't hire an artist to illustrate my work, and I still wouldn't after learning how to use AI as part of my toolkit.
Being able to produce artwork on par with the big publishers is one way of leveling the playing field for indie publishers.
I have some products that could be TAS material if not for the stigma of AI (which only SOME people really care about - the vast majority enjoy it as far as I can tell). I even had somebody following me around the FB groups trolling me and trying to get me kicked out for posting AI art (in groups where it is allowed) - only to find out that he was lifting AI art from my website and using it in his YT videos. LOL he blocked me when I pointed it out. So it seems people who complain about it sometimes secretly like it or can't tell the difference.
People are losing their minds over AI art - I've seen people make themselves the self-appointed AI police, then have full-blown public meltdowns on social media over it. It's weird.