> I am able to, pretty easily still feel when an image is AI generated. [...] I'm talking about a feeling, much like uncanny valley, that you get when you're looking at AI generated images [...] the thing that usually gives it away is the fact that it doesn't capture my attention as easily as a real photograph does

I agree generated images are often distinguishable, but I'd be wary that this is prime territory for confirmation bias. It may be that there are many images you looked at and scrolled past without realizing they were generated, for instance.

Trying a blind test (I see https://www.tidio.com/blog/ai-test/ in search results) could be informative.