Depends on the publisher. Sony, Rockstar, Capcom, CD Project and Bethesda's AAA projects are still creative and almost always exceptional. Activision, Ubisoft, Microsoft, EA and most other western studios are indeed creatively bankrupt.
The problem is that the good publishers are taking far longer creating these AAA games and the longer they take the more risk averse they become. Rockstar has released a total of 1 game in the last 8 years. Now it was a game of the generation contender, but no game from them for the last 4 years is basically the same as 4 trash games of Ubisoft. Sony's AAA games have pushed graphics fidelity, storytelling and at times gameplay in ways most AAA games simply cant match, but once again, their studios are taking forever to release games, and 1 safe last gen game a year wont do. Yes, Im talking about HFW. A good game with above average storytelling and graphics, but it's combat is way too safe in 2022 when in 2017, it was unlike anything else out there. Ratchet feels safe too. Better than EA trash, but its not TLOU2, GoT, GOW and Spiderman we have come to expect from Sony.
CD Project screwed up their AAA game 5 years in the making even though they took a lot of creative risks. That said, id rather Bethesda and CD Project try and fail vs what we get from Microsoft more of the same stuff like Ratchet, GT7, Forza Horizon, Gears and Halo. To me, more of the same in 2021-2022 is indeed creatively bankrupt.