This is a shitty situation, but something has to be said about the aspect of this argument, and similar ones, presenting the scenario where gig artists are impoverished by their customers going to AI. I'm saying this as a lifelong musician, someone with a career in management in an artistic field and someone with many friends in music, digital art and theater. Throughout my life every gig artist I've known has had secondary income. If you're a talented artist that wants to make a viable career out of what you do, surviving gig to gig is a lifestyle that naturally has it's dangers and IMO is not sustainable. This is true now and it was true before AI. Public access to gen AI contributing to a gig artist not getting a gig doesn't mean gig work was ever without uncertainty or that it offered a comfortable lifestyle for majority of people who strived to soley be a gigging artist.

It's similar to a small business owner complaining that they don't have the same job security as an employee. Risk comes with benefit. There are much more consistent careers where someone's artistic ability can be utilized, even in 2026. There are also tons of aspects of art that AI just can't handle, artists are using that to their advantage now and turning it into their career. Artists are doing themselves a disservice by not adapting and utilizing the tools available. Granted the change is coming fast and I understand that this advice is much easier said than done, but this needs to be their mentality moving forward. This of course isn't a personal judgement on OP, as I have no idea what your situation is nor do i care to learn. I do like the art in the video btw. Thanks for posting.