So do you have a rebuttal or? Because this is the way I see it, using music because it's what I know more:

I get an idea in my head for a melody or piece of music -> I either lay it out on an instrument or in a DAW piano roll or on paper -> I tweak and refine and add/remove elements -> I export the file and upload to a website.

The actual creative spark is the first step, the rest is a matter of speaking the language and skills at using the tools of choice to convey ideas clearly. Both are skills in and of themselves but one is about technique, the other is about a well-trained imagination and analytical mindset.

Prompts in that case are just another language like notes and scales, used to put ideas into form.

Then you add onto that LoRAs, controlnets, refiner models, custom refines of existing models, embeddings, weights, sampling steps, classifier-free guidance scale, and it's quite a lot to actually learn and use effectively.

I don't see how it's any less creative whatsoever. Less skilled? Sure, absolutely, it can be. No denying there. Understanding that notes fit into scales and what a key is in music is a much bigger learning curve than simply typing in what you want, but in both cases that's not all there is to it.

Maybe you could say it's also less intentional, but plenty of art has unintentional elements which doesn't make it any less creative.

I'm sure every amateur musician had that one experience where you make a piece of music that you think is sad, show it to a friend and they say it sounds cheerful, it doesn't happen because you're uncreative, it happens because your 'musical language' needs work.

Eventually you make that one track with a clear intent and show it to someone and they tell you exactly what you meant by it and it is the best gosh darn feeling on earth.

Proompting may be goofy, but it's just another language, and it doesn't invalidate the creative spark that starts it all.