Why should artists get to make a living doing what they love, but I can't?

Whenever I bring up how GenAI has enabled me to make games I wouldn't be able to make otherwise, the conversation goes like this:

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them: if you can't learn the skill, you don't get to make the game.

me: game dev is an ensemble of a dozen skills and mastery of each is impossible and would take many years. It would not be feasible for me to sustain myself financially, nor would I finish the games I want to make within my lifetime.

them: then maybe you should reconsider game dev as a way of making a living

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Couldn't the same thing be said to artists? That if it's financially unrealistic, they should give up on their dream and find another one?

The logic is hypocritical. So because someone wants to make a living doing something that rarely provides a livable income anyway, everyone else has to forgo using a tool that would enable them to live their own dreams?

Why are artists entitled to that, and to the extent that they demand everyone else make sacrifices on their behalf?

And it's not even as if I'm actually threatening the careers of artists by using this tool because whether i use this tool or not, an artist is not getting paid because i don't have the $$$.

Besides, in this day of GenAI, there is no telling whether artists themselves are using GenAI in their own workflows. Even if they did, that would be fine with me as it's a tool for accelerating productivity. Ironically, GenAI can be used to help enable artists to make a living making art.

Just seems like we as a community are shooting ourselves in the foot with our attitude about GenAI art. Sure AI slop sucks but you can spot it a mile away. It's very possible to use GenAI in a focused way and produce a high quality game.

Why are we rejecting the use of a tool that could result in an indie golden era? Finally a tool that elevates the capabilities/productivities of developers so they can produce games of higher quality that punch above their weight. This would result in competition with AAA studios and put power back in the hands of creators in the gaming space.

And if a solo dev or small team makes it big, they can use their success to hire real artists---which will always be better than gen ai.

Instead of rejecting GenAI and wishing it would go away (not going to happen), you could utilize the tool to do things you couldn't otherwise.

In all of human history and before, the lesson is: adapt or die.

In the past, making art was a higher-value skill. Then technology lowered the value of that skill by making it easier for everyone to make art. Instead of crying about that and wishing it would go back to the way it was before, adapt to it by using the tool to accelerate your own workflow or make something else, something that AI can't make, something that only you as a human with your skills can make. That has value and that will enable you to thrive long-erm.