There is more to entry-level illustrators than SEO posts. In my daily life I've witnessed a bakery, an aspiring writer of children's books, and two University departments go for self-made AI pictures instead of hiring an illustrator. Those jobs would have definitely gone to a local illustrator.
I've seen the same more times that I can count, having been in that business decades ago. Then it was clip art and bad illustrator work, no different than what you're seeing today with AI -- and to a trained professional, the delta between the two "home made" approaches and professional ones is clearly evident. We'll look at the AI slop in 10 years the way we look at clip art from 1995.
