Well put and so true. My conclusion is similar but for a different reason. What you call padding is actually ghosts of the souls of artists who spent lifetimes honing their skill sets and intentions. Their (our) original work was scraped, copyright violated and liquified by plagiarism software. The result is highly refined corn syrup substance that makes eye candy with no nutritional value. I see AI and hear those souls weeping. I'm at the point where I can't read an article illustrated with it.