Somewhere in the complex math is the origin of whatever it is in intellectual property that we deem worthy of protection. Because we are humans, we take the complex math done by human brains as worthy of protection by fiat. When a painter paints a tree, we assign the property interest in the painting to the human painter, not the tree, notwithstanding that the tree made an essential contribution to the content. The whole point is to protect the interests of humans (to give them an incentive to work). There is no other reason to even entertain the concept of "property".
As long as AIs are incapable of recognizing when they are plagiarizing, as humans are generally capable of, the double standard seems entirely warranted.
