> I'm not sure the low cost of living of the guy who kicks off the AI generation still makes much of a difference? ... In any case, why do we care about the cost of living of the author?

It seems like you're trying to catch me doing secret racism or something like that, but I'm just stating the facts. They appear to overwhelmingly live in places where you can get very rich if you publish 100 books a month and make $100 on each. They don't operate in the shadows, they share tips and photos of their pads and cars on social media. Many of them say they live in India and so forth.