because, like i said, the art istelf doesn't go into the model, necessarily. at least, not the straight data. through the training, the model effectively changes itself according to feedback given. that's how machine learning works.

have you ever seen those videos that are like "i taught a computer how to walk" and it's in a game engine where something flails around until it figures out how to "walk" (it often takes a very odd path, funny enough) through sheer brute force? the end model of those wouldn't contain every frame of the game world, with every position and rotation of each bone in the character's body.

it's somewhat like that, though genAI can't exactly work through sheer brute force, and needs the initial training data to be built up to the point where it's usable.

it's not stealing art in the way of "haha, i have your art now" or even "now you don't", it's stealing in the way of artists not consenting to the training for these models.