If this is the best argument the pro-AI crowd has left at this point then you've lost all ability to reason...

Pirating Photoshop is, at worst, taking advantage of Adobe, a multi-billion dollar corporation. They are still very profitable and their employees still got paid to do the work. We can debate the ethics of software piracy all day, and I would argue you're better off investing your mental energy in FOSS, but in the end I think the social impact of people pirating Photoshop is quite small.

Compare this to generative AI which is built on the unprecedented exploitation of all human arts, culture and intellectual labor without any form of consent or compensation. All for the benefit of the richest tech oligarchs who are more than happy to sell you a subscription to a product that they stole from the creative class.

Who is benefitting the most from the AI bubble, the starving artist or the wealthy investor? The thoughtful engineer or the slop slinger? The workers or the suits?

No matter what way you slice it, you're not "sticking it to the man", you are the man. He shouldn't embarrass himself by blaming "capitalism" when he has shown that he is just as willing to exploit other people's labor as the next guy--hes just stupid enough to do it for pennies to the AI billionaires dollar.