I think what's more sad is someone going out of their way to NOT support the artist.

Art is, among other things, a conversation starter. If someone sees an LLM generated thing hanging in the home or office and strikes up a conversation, it goes something like: "Yeah, i saw it online and I ended up ripping it off"...or the person lies to save face (also sad).

Or, the conversation could be "Yeah, these were purchased directly from the artist...I bought them because....". (a much more interesting conversation)

Both of these evoke an emotional reaction with an interlocutor.