For most art they just like the picture, caring about the artist is inasmuch as one was required to make it. Already before AI, if I selected a random photo from a given genre in DeviantArt or ArtStation it would be hard to make deep philosophical queries about the artist like the original starter of this thread tree was thinking is necessary for art. Most of it was surfaced when people searched for xyz wallpaper, they click Save and set it on their phone or desktop.
Even for pure picture lovers, I will say beyond philosophizing about the creator, the content of the picture itself is subject of thought and analysis as far or as little as one wishes.
People care a bit more about the creator in music, because musicians have built up a lot of image and fake mystique. But then again, for some genres, its much less relevant to people especially those that got grew natively or thrived on the internet eg noise rock, hardcore electronic.
Some of course want deeper analysis, seeing the artists blog/thoughts etc.
Ultimately the actual revealed preference is that most people just want "pretty pictures" and couldn't care much about anything else.