Not for nothing. We all appreciate it.

Thank you. I appreciate you too ^^

I wouldn't worry. The AI craze is going to spread for a while, but the way AI art has no personality or origginality is going to mean that eventually it drops off because people will lose interest in it. And the Indie sphere will always have a place for people who care.

time to leave China then

You could do indie games. theres a big market in it

I don't live in China but it is only a matter of time b4 American game companies will do the same if not have already. Itch.io is already flooded with badly made ai games

Luckily, i doubt they will, or atleast successfully will. Artist backlash and all, combined with backlash from people noticing all the details that just ruin immersion with drive them away. Remember, we all chased off nft shit from gaming, we can push out ai aswell.

I would say maybe work with creators on steam. Steam seems to be pretty decent for Indy creators

There will always be a desire for Human artists imo, I could see certain publishers like EA using AI but I'm sure there will be studios who will hire people

I would have to look more into it. I feel like this shouldn't disrupt the indie market at all as stylized games usually end up having cult followings or become fairly popular. Plus it might make everything too similar/uninspired. On top of that, there may still be the idea floating around that AI art could be copyright infringement, though I can't say for sure.

This opens a potential vacuum of endless amount of jobless people who might want to combine together to make new companies that are anti AI. AI might become so over used that a stigma might happen where you might see people wanting to see in person a artist painting in order to get away from all the soulless AI.
I think also China having a decreasing population, a increasingly lagging behind economy, may smell trouble for China since they rely so heavily on a one way lopsided exporting economic model. (Which where I'm hearing from people who study global economics, are slowly being replaced by countries like Vietnam and Mexico.) and their venture in creating industries seems too late to save them now, when only a few companies are there and yet so much people are out of job because of AI there. I don't think gimmicky aliexpress and tiktok is going to save them. XD but these are just educated guesses.

Also the fact that every person neurology is different and has a different background, will cause each person in any creative medium endeavors to create new and unique creations each time a piece of media is created. Even if AI creates things new and unique as if a person has made it, a human will still create an equally new and unique experience just from a soul existing that will rival an AI's soulless renderings. (or even more unique id AI can never master creativity.)
The fact that people love meta content surrounding art like the Artist's background, history, and story will always cause a market for meaty hands making art and an allure for organic compositions.

Furry media has rarely if ever been part of mainstream professional content, it has always been this niche community who engage in voluntary exchanges with each other. Don't lose hope.

I'm into AI art and I'm still getting big commissions, because AI art lacks those details that furries get.

You make awesome art if you ask me. I don't really know anything about this AI art you're talking about but short of us suddenly developing a TRUE AI I doubt it's going to really add up to anything in the long run. Sure, it can be useful for small finishing touches, but I doubt its good enough for large scale projects like the entire art of a game.