As the subject line describes, using the Blend Tool repeatedly, then copying and pasting the results, is causing AI to eat up all of my system memory. In the case of the included image, I'm making a single path using the Pen Tool, then successively layering copies of that single path to create more complex line compositions. Every so often, I'll group and expand the resulting shapes to help reduce point counts, but it's still consuming RAM like crazy. I have 32GB of RAM and it's creeping into the 100% usage zone pretty quickly. I also have a dedicated GPU, and I have GPU Performance settings enabled, but my system monitor shows only 1%-2% usage.
On systems with less available memory and/or integrated graphics, the sorts of operations that I routinely do have crashed them fairly quickly.
Is AI just not equipped to handle that sort of workflow efficiently, or are there additional techniques that I might employ to keep things from becoming too dense? What are the limits of the software?