Instructors and art books literally give permission to use them as a “stepping stone” by definition.

Also the main difference is that a human has a human mind and is making creative decisions unique to that human. The problem is that a narrow AI algorithm cannot be anything BUT derivative. If you never give a human any input they can still make art, that’s why we have cave paintings. But a narrow AI algorithm needs specific input via specific pieces of art or else it can’t create anything. It cannot be anything but derivative. With that in mind permission and consent is much more important to the artists whose specific pieces are being fed into the algorithm.