You don’t think it’s fair to factor how art was created into your judgment?

Factor? That's not what was described: "knowing it was AI irrespective of anything else."

And no - I don't think it's fair to call the art bad when in fact what you mean is you don't like the way it was made. Saying "I don't like AI art" is not the same as "This piece is shit", which is how it is almost always framed.