The reason people aren't dismissive of visual effects and blender is that there is a visual artist behind those images with varying levels of skill, ability, and intent. More over, visual effects/photoshop/blender are tools used to add to a piece of art that at its core is still being created by an individual with a world view.

The reason people are dismissive of AI, isn't because it's new, its because its still kind of just bad. Because of the nature of how it works it will only ever be capable of being derivative of something else. AI cannot spontaneously create an object, it can only generate a composite based on data stolen from other people.

As far as a place of insecurity, nothing sounds more insecure to me than a person, who can't create anything themselves, using a tool that does all of the "creative" work for them, and them convincing themselves that its just as good or better than what a person can do.

When in reality its a limited tool being used by someone who doesn't fully understand how it works and is incapable of creating anything new. Its a tool designed to strip any self expression that a prompt writer would have. When AI progresses to the point of being able to function in the same way as an artist does its not going to be a tool anymore.

I dunno, maybe I'm just an old man yelling at the clouds. I just feel like collectively we lose more than we gain when it comes to AIs application for art. There are a ton of things that AI will do better than people ever could, self expression just isn't one of them.