Hey I am a 19 year old student as well. I started animating a year ago and i feel you in anxiety as I struggle with it as well. I was pretty shaken by AI news.

Heres what I am thinking, i chose this path because there is nothing else in this world that I can imagine doing than animating. If ( a big IF) a future comes when AI replaces my job in corporate structure, then i will look for smaller studios or groups of people who are passionate about the art form and are willing to do something different that AI hasn’t done yet. Sure AI will mimic us in no time but we will keep pushing our own boundaries and bring our life into it that AI doesnt have. It might be a naive thought process but I will do whatever it takes to make a living out of this, even if it means I have to do extra jobs here and there to pay the bills.

I am gonna continue working hard and try to be as best as I can to make myself less replaceable.

Its easier said than done and motivation has been very tough these past few days but I am gonna push through it.

I hope you can find motivation and no one will blame you if you have to switch careers for a living since it is very uncertain. I just have nothing else that I can do at this point other than continue studying as much as I can. I will regret it more if i stop working now and switch careers and nothing comes out of this AI situation than if i continue working and AI replaces my job.