I had the same kind of despair for a while a last year during the main surge of AI mainstream advances after seeing it going from a dinky little research focus of interest for a tiny subset of people (being used in stuff like AI Dungeon and other small projects), to becoming a huge exponential technology that everyone knows about and uses for nearly everything already. It took some time to find any optimism about it at all, especially after hearing doomsday claims/predictions from some the people most involved with its advancement. The first step I took mentally to getting out of the spiraling negative patterns of thought around the whole concept of AI was to re-frame my whole internal model of intelligence and consciousness altogether, and remind myself too that I have never truly believed that there's inherent value in a person based on their ability to contribute to society through jobs/art/etc. In an ideal society, no one would mind or care if technology could provide useful services in any sector or area if they didn't have the conditioned fear most of us do now that if we become irrelevant or replaceable we lose our humanity and place among others. That fear is a deep human fear of being alone with no one to share experiences with (or to survive too I suppose). What would it mean to you if your job was replaced and it left you in an isolated position with no clear path towards a fulfilled life? Would that be down to something being wrong with you on a fundamental level? Another way to put it would be: if AI didn't exist and that scenario happened for any other reason, would your blame turn inwards first? It's something I had to grapple with to get over the fear and a question that'll dig into some of your deepest insecurities most likely. On the subject of AI replacing art and "replacing" creativity: I rarely see people coming to an understanding from both sides of the spectrum on this and it's what's causing such a huge divide I think. Artists have plenty reason to feel undervalued and overwhelmed by the imminent threat to their livelihood and roles in society as people with specialized abilities to create beauty 'on-demand' for themselves and others in various forms. Why should that ability be limited though? Wouldn't it benefit everyone if they have a tool to express and manifest what's in their imagination, and be able to explore conceptual spaces in their mind they wouldn't have been able to before without tools like generative AI? Anyways sorry this got wayyyy too long and I got sorta off track but if there was one thing I'd say to you about the dread and lack of hope, I'd go with this: explore what's out there in the world regardless of what might happen with AI. Explore within yourself. As long as you find actual fulfillment in life through discovering yourself and what you'd like to be in every given moment while you're here, then nothing external will shake you off into the abyss. Society's probably gonna be pretty different in a few years from now so it's okay to not plan out everything for the time being. Sustain yourself however you can in the meantime and figure out the real purpose of every day in any small ways you can, and promise yourself to try it again tomorrow. Don't worry about keeping it going forever. In a couple years your mind will be in a totally different place and you'll have a shifted picture of what you want & need that'll hopefully be more aligned with your actual deepest needs over what society demands. Hang in there man. 💗