Was actively pursuing a career as an artist until recently but modern reality destroyed any hope of that working out, despite my ability.

What really sucks is that I was told as a teenager in the 90s that things would work out once I found my 'niche'. The advent of AI blew that lie to high heaven. Nobody fucking cares about talent. They only care about visibility. And unless you have a socially desirable profile, no amount of talent is going matter.

It doesn't really matter if AI works can't be copyrighted. Non-creative people using the technology are going to saturate the market so badly that legit artists will never be able to make a dime.