[gartdavis]

a_bonobo.... I think you're digging in the right vein here, but to perhaps to make the point clearer we could separate the discussion into two:

In an AI laden world

1) How are artists relevant

2) How are artists fairly compensated

I believe the answer to 1) is as you say, simply in the word 'new'. AI functionally remixes toward a mean. You can improve the impression of this with exquisite sources or more nuanced algorithms, but the result is always, literally, average.

I believe that an artist works out of an authentic story that is much more than the sum of their influences, and is uniquely their own. This story is the value proposition that is offered to an appreciant - it is an expression of identity that rises above the noise, and that can be joined. Mechanisms of payment have changed with the gyrations of technology, culture, and power since the concept of 'art' was birthed. But as long as there is a distinctive story in an artist's work, I believe there will always be a path to compensation.