Technically you would pay programmers to write SVG code with no visual feedback if you want a straight 1:1 comparison.

Kinda. It's the difference between measuring the end product vs how it's made.

Doesn't that somewhat miss the point? The models can't see and check their work, for instance.

I'm not clear what you are saying. I am curious about what humans can do in the same context. It's becoming a standard I think for some tasks. E.g. how does a Gen AI stack up against a human in quality and "cost". Perhaps I'm missing what you are asking.

They can. Ask them to generate SVG , call a renderer and let them inspect the bitmap/png. They can learn about it.

They can, but for this specifc test, they don't. It's a oneshot with no feedback.