Cheap with the understanding that nobody is currently paying the full cost. OpenAI has a burn rate of $700k per day by some accounts. They're going to have to get that down or pass the cost onto consumers at some point.

That doesn't seem like that much all told frankly, or nearly enough given the social and environmental externalities.

Sure, but even if the picture costs you $3 each instead of $0.50, it's still going to be cheaper than hiring an artist, and still going to damage the economics of creatives