General Discussion

as was the understanding of the general population (and the art world) of photographers when photography was a newer technology.

In fact, you have essentially stated the primary argument made against cameras as part of the artistic process, without recognizing it as the same essential argument you are making about AI. The argument was that all you are doing with a camera is pointing it as something and clicking a button and the tool does the rest - like all the artist using AI as part of their creative process merely types a prompt and the tool does the rest.

The argument is not true in either case.

As far as whether creativity can be answered separately from whether the use of a particular tool is ethical, the two questions are independent of each other. Something can be creative and also unethical. Creativity is the process of using your imagination. Unethical requires the violation of social, moral, or legal norms. You can certainly use your imagination in ways that violate social, moral, or legal norms. For example, there are some very imaginative scams that are illegal.