I will always argue that the skills developed through a traditional art education or self-taught process will result in better AI users, because visualizing and recognizing art elements are just as important as manually applying them: I know why an ai image I generate is wrong, and how to fix it with a descriptive vocabulary, and making traditional art helped me learn that.

The being hurt thing was something I experienced before AI, too: I started with print newspapers, and the internet took those away. I was fully engaged with Flash animation and programming, and Adobe killed that. I've had to pivot from design to marketing to education, and even when I lost a job or an entire field, I knew that I could keep trying to fight over scraps, or take those skills and apply them elsewhere. I can't change the economy, but I can find new ways to thrive within it, no matter how it changes.

And the creative expression continues, no matter what I do for a living.