I mean if your intent is to view the images carefully and study the details why not click through to the details page and see larger, more detailed photos?
The problem is when other people are getting 'AI suggestions' based on your work. What if you don't own the copyright for the work you're producing (it's for a client)? What if you don't what AI being trained on your data?
Steam is a perfectly fine experience and captchas are the universal standard these days. They lost someone who's 'not really a game person' and wasn't willing to fill in a captcha for a free game, I don't think they're too worried about lost revenue. I highly doubt tracking down and downloading a legit version of the updated Half-Life from a torrent site is an easier option, but you do you.