Speaking as one of those poor sots who rode the digital wave in the early '90's, co-founding Warner Digital Studio as its senior Art Director I know that digital tools opened up a lot of possibilities for telling stories. But they are NOT the story, just a toolbox for talented artists. As Goerge Lucas said, nothing is more boring than a visual effect.
On the other hand, AI has great potential to expand storytelling, but at a huge cost to jobs, an estimated 200,000 in the VFX and animation fields over the next several years.
Because much of its data uses the stolen creativity of gifted artists it allows mediocrities to look like geniuses, at least till the repetition of its creative limits winds up with its eating its own tail.
Personally I would like to see these AI companies made to pay for their stolen assets with at least some of that going to help artists, whose jobs are made redundant by this tech, transition to a different career path.
My advice to artists is to embrace the tech, master using it, and market that skill. They will make beaucoup bucks for a few years before advancements replace them.
When digital technology hit the field of VFX I didn't waste a nanosecond moaning about it. I taught myself new skills and rode that wave to new opportunities. AI will be more destructive.
Studio execs and Wall Street love it because AI will cut costs and boost profits even as it dulls creativity. They understand profit and loss, not creativity of
youtube thumbnail downloader. It doesn't have to be that way, but we're dealing with human beings and they rarely do things well.