Admittedly I have had the luck of a very good PI, and then a very good lab to work at.

Some of my coworkers have shared some of those horror stories from previous positions, PIs insisting on primary authorship, making students do work for projects without getting any credit etc.

However, despite those abuses, I think the ultimate purpose of the PhD remains the same. Though perhaps it is easy for me to say because I didn't experience the abuses myself.