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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if the work is directly related to your core business, i think it's only right to pay that person for their time

i like doing a work trial before hiring someone, and we just agree on a time period for the trial and they sign our boilerplate consulting agreement for that time