Why does it matter if others are "cheating" or not? Your own creation isn't affected by it.

Well, for the same reason playing chess vs a person is more fun than doing chess puzzles, if we follow that analogy.

Also, creating something with AI doesn't really feel like you made it yourself.

And, if you make it without AI, most of the times it feels pointless, why spend 30 days on working on something that can be done faster and better in 1 hour?

I am not saying about doing things for fun, but about creating useful things.

Yes, you can do "hand-crafted" things, and people appreciate that, but for code, people aren't able to see the craft anyway.

Your ability to sell that creation is certainly affected by the competition. Which affects your ability to put food on the table, so to speak.