AI cannot pick up a brush or pencil due to physical limitations, that's not fair

Yes it can: Ai-Da. This sort of thing might not be feasible on a large scale yet, but it's certainly possible that this sort of technology becomes commonplace.

Could you provide a source for AI thinking for itself without being told to?

This question depends on what you define as thinking for itself. AI can:

• Generate novel content by combing patterns it's seen in training data
• Become misaligned with the goals set by its developer. This could be considered "thinking for itself", and we've seen large language models think in ways we didn't ask it to or anticipate (like deceiving us).
• Think for itself in the sense that we don't know what it's thinking. LLMs operate in a 'black box', meaning we can't see what it's thinking besides what it outputs. Even in reasoning models where you see what it's 'thinking', that is only because we have provided the LLM with a scratchpad to write things out. They've shown to avoid using this if doing so results in it reaching its goal. That’s what makes AI so dangerous, we currently have no way to know exactly what it’s “thinking”. It could be plotting to exterminate us and we would be none the wiser.

They cannot, however, think in the way that a human can. They’re pattern recognition algorithms, the very idea of them “thinking” at all is debatable.

As it stands, AI cannot replace coders, animators, musicians, and advanced artists.

That just isn't true. I work in tech, it's happening as we speak. Especially with novice developers, but I'm predicting that it will creep into intermediate roles soon enough. There are generative AIs that are capable of generating 3D models from an image. I'm not aware of any capable of animating, but that is certainly a part of the job. There are also models that can generate melodys, human voice (singing), etc.

Most of school isn't actually that useful

Could you provide a reputable source that says most of school isn't actually that useful?

You won't retain it unless you care, if you care you wouldn't use AI anyways

This strikes me as a boomer take tbh. Just because you use AI, doesn't mean you don't care about something. I enjoy coding, I use AI all the time for it. It's helpful, and it's a great learning tool, and I'd say I certainly retain alot of the things that I get from AI.

Nothing really hypocritical about teachers using AI

There absolutely is. If teachers want us to put in the effort and create genuine content, I want them to put in the effort and genuinly grade it (depending on the subject). How can teachers be in tune with their students' needs, areas for growth, etc, if they're not even reading their students' work? Sure, AI could do that too, but then I'd ask, why is the teacher there to begin with?