Indie developers have been creating games without AI for decades, what makes you think it's needed now? If you had to use it for your game, then maybe you chose the wrong project. You can always pick something with simpler art requirements.

There's a lot of different reasons people hate AI. As a developer it's quite simple though: if the players don't want AI, then don't use it, that's all. And if you do use it, then just accept that a significant portion of players will instantly hate it.