Apple was very much criticized for this
Samsung has decided to copy Apple's controversial approach to the Always-on Display feature.
It turned out that at least the flagship Galaxy S24 Ultra has a default version of this function that copies Apple’s approach. That is, in an inactive state, the smartphone displays desktop wallpaper with dimmed brightness and additional elements on top of them.
When Apple finally introduced the Always-on Display, probably behind everyone else on the market, it did it its own way. However, this mode was very actively criticized, and as a result, Apple added a classic mode. Samsung, which has had an excellent AOD for a very long time, also decided to experiment, only it copied the option from Apple.
Thankfully, the settings in One UI 6.1 immediately allow you to select the classic version with a black screen, but the new version is the default.
True, the Samsung version, unlike Apple, has one interesting feature. If the smartphone recognizes that there is a person or pet in the image, the device can crop that object for a more concise display in AOD mode.