Exactly as you say. AI is imagined to be the wealthy nepotist's escape pod from an equal playing field and democratized access to information. Win at all cost soulless predators who find infinite sacrifice somehow righteous love games like the ones that macro-scale AI creates.
The average person's utility from AI is marginal. But to a psychopath like Elon Musk who is interested in deceiving the internet about Twitter engagement or juicing his crypto scam, it's a necessary tool to create seas of fake personas.