FYI about this part: "he’s learned that AI content 'will, at least for the moment, be well-received by search engines'.”
This isn't correct. Our systems are looking at the helpfulness of content, rather than how it is produced, as we explained recently:
developers.google.com/search…
We'd encourage publishers, however they produce content, to ensure they're making it for people-first. We go into detail about some things to consider if AI is involved here:
developers.google.com/search…
Producing a lot of content with the primary purpose of ranking in search, rather than for people, should be avoided. Sites producing a lot of unhelpful content not intended for people-first may find all of their content less likely to be successful with search, as explained here:
developers.google.com/search…