Hmm, interesting take. So everything's okay as long as the illusion doesn't break, even if everything is a lie? Actually, Cypher from the Matrix movie was exactly like that lol.
Well, they need a prompt to work actually. They can't act on their own. They don't see, smell, hear or touch stuff like any other advanced organism on earth. They don't know how to "act". That's why all the AI models have a default system prompt. Not a single AI has ever seen a human face before. All they know is data, trillions of strings and numbers. It's like we are asking a blind person to solve the Rubik's cube.
But they don't come up with their own spin on the art. That's why we have a lot of parameters that randomize each output. Some AI make better artwork because they have better reference images in their database, not because of an individuality.