People saying characters look 'ai'

You get that ai has been trained on actual art styles right?

You don't have to like it but this was quite clearly always what they were going for you just couldn't see it when the graphics were worse

Yes they look doll like, that's the point

I've seen people in the comments drawing parallels to other media and I'll leave that to you guys as you're much better at it than I am! But this style is a recognisable art style that's popular in Japanese media.