What worries me is that it’s reducing the value of actual engineering work (or good quality art). It’s like car lemons. Their existence also reduces the value of the good quality work
I think that misunderstands the economics:
For a long time we've been able to generate mathematical solutions at a prompt, and yet those still have value - I still gain by having them. Email is free and ubiquitous, but still has value. Clean water, for example, is generally free and ubiquitous, but has enormous value; I'd die without it.
In the market, things are priced by their marginal value - the added value of the last one sold; your 10,000th glass of water is not as valuable as your 1st (if you have only 1). But price != value: 'price is what you pay, value is what you get'.
I have a hard time believing that a population deeply into social media, an ocean of inauthenticity - disinformation, influencers, bots, trolling, etc. - and who actively support people who advertise their inauthenticity with pride (such as certain politicians), suddenly care about authenticity.
They don't want AI messing up the 'authenticity' of their social media? lol
That said, I care very much about both authenticity and regulating AI.