Is it wrong/unethical/extractive/in bad taste for companies to require applicants to produce valuable work "for free" when applying? Are there exceptions?

E.g. write an investment thesis, do competitor research, put together a pitch deck, prototype a new feature, etc.

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yea i think these things should probably be paid if it's potentially creating value for the business

investment thesis a bit different maybe, if i'm like a hedge fund asking applicants to pitch a stock, that seems like a standard type of question to assess their abilities/way of thinking

but something closer to a work trial should def always be paid and is a bad signal if it isn't

agreed work trials should always be paid, even if remote and/or only a day, etc.

I'm wondering if the real ethical question here is if it's wrong for a company to use any of the intel/ideas that an applicant submits during the interview process, when they don't ultimately hire the applicant