That's true. I'm not really convinced it's a reflection of what people want though, so much as a reflection of the bare minimum necessary to satisfy listeners.
I feel it's a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy though --- it sells because it's there.. but everyone complains about it.
And it's there because it's easier for companies to repeat the same thing than to make something new. It's not necessarily a reflection of what people want. It's more like.. the lowest common denominator.
I think in the end, play time and music popularity are much more complicated social phenomena than whether people think a song "is good" or not.
However, maybe you're right in that this phenomenon could play to the benefit of AI-generated music. But I really think it will hit the limits of people's patience, quickly.
Evidence is against you.
The number of radio stations that play something "new" are VASTLY outnumbered by the radio stations that play the same things over and over and over.
If we start removing things which sound almost identical (See: modern "bro" country, etc.), the number of places where you can get exposed to new music dwindles to effective zero.