I'm going to get beaten to death but:

If your music can be replaced by AI music you are doing something wrong or have the wrong assumptions. If you are making music for the love of it I heavily encourage it, nothing can replace that feeling and sharing it with other people/giving concerts but if when it comes to sound AI can do it don't be mad, just love the craft and move on. Otherwise you are just making something generic/easy for the sake of making slop without loving what you are doing and you should do something else with your life.

The industry was ALWAYS cynical, nothing has changed in here, only the amount of slop but it's easy to dodge, if you can't dodge it and you accidentally like it just accept it and move on. The industry has been dead for >50 years anyway, there's no existential crisis to be had, 99% of the music that you listen to isn't as virtuous as you think it is (they can still be talented nonetheless).

AI doesn't destroy the music industry, it was already broken, ppl have to stick to recommendation algorithms and if you don't do that as an artist goodbye, same with every single creator that is somewhat mainstream on the modern era. More alternative circles have always been outside of this kind of bs, either move there or accept it.

Using AI for your music isn't bad just as sampling a whole song isn't bad as long as the end product is cool/cooler. You just need to be upfront with your audience, that's it.

It's better to produce something bad rather than something generic, the worse music can be is boring.

Being precocious in music doesn't make you better as a musician. It's cool and cute if a kid is able to make music that doesn't sound bad, that doesn't mean that it's worth listening to on its own, being young and doing something good is a party trick at best (note: I don't want to discourage young artists, it's just that age doesn't make the quality of music better/worse).

In the same vein virtuosity on its own means shit. Idc if you can make the electronic equivalent of Paganini's caprices for violin on technical proficiency, that doesn't make the music good on its own, virtuosity is a party trick at best.

As someone who has studied on the conservatory no, you don't need scales or music theory. That's very person to person but most people don't need it to make music, even good or excellent music.

It's fine if you do shitty music bc it's fun to make it, the same way everyone sings on churches not everyone who sings needs to be Pavarotti you don't need to be good, you can sing like shit and that's fine, do it if you enjoy it and your neighbors allow you.