You've hit the nail on the head as we say where I'm from.

This is also why I think the "boycott AI" movement is misguided. AI doesn't produce slop: unskilled AI operators do.

Heck just the other day I saw a headline about a Nobel literature laureate apparently using AI, with some "expert" confidently claiming the winning novel was 100% generated. AI output quality ranges from slop to Nobel price worthy, depending on who uses it. Which seems to support the notion that it's a tool, much like any other.