I agree that images produced are not derivatives of any particular copyrighted work, instead they are derivative of all copyrighted work. I don't think OpenAI et al should get a free pass for finding a way to rip everyone off at once, but it's certainly a new frontier in law, hence the gray area.
Well, in copyright law there is the De Minimis Concept, which kinda sorta allows, as you put it, OpenAI to "rip everyone off", despite everyone holding what they originally had.
