I think humans do in fact create things out of 'thin air' - but only in very, very small pieces. What we consider to be an absolute genius is typically a person who has made one small original thought and applied it to what already exists to make something different.
Creating something novel is not even remotely the same as creating something out of thin air. Even the genius with an original thought only could come by that thought by being informed through their life experiences. Not unlike an AI training set allowing an AI to create something novel.
