> Why would there need to be a stigma for getting paid based on a tool they used?

Is it being used a tool, or is it being used as a ghostwriter? There is often stigma attached to that when done by humans.

> Artist have a stigma for using photoshop instead of canvas?

Yes, that used to very much be the case. Now it is often considered a different form of expression, so loses a lot of the stigma mostly by not pretending to be what those looking down on it are comparing it to.

Similar in the debate between CGI and practical effects.

Perhaps if AI-backed authors are willing to have their work classed as a different type of writing they can skip by the comparison-stigma too?

If it's being used as a ghostwriter, they don't get copyright protection, making it harder to profit off the work.

If they are actually doing some work (editing significantly after generation) then they are protected on two fronts (currently, active cases may change this):

* as discussed elsewhere in these threads, the judgements pertaining to copyright not applying to generated work all only seem to cover entirely generated work where there is very little human activity after the prompt.

* even if the generated work is public domain, the derived work (the edited version) is not necessarily so (much like Disney's derived works created from the tales of Hans Christian Andersen's writings).

If they are not doing significant work after the ghostwriting, then sod'em, they are earning the stigma of essentially committing fraud to get that profit from the work.