Its definitely a very sad development for skilled artists. There will be people with very clean prompts who can generate clean vectors with minimum touch ups.
However, I saw a similar development when computers were introduced, the need for classically trained artists with solid anatomy knowledge, a hand that was painfully developed to draw classical strokes that breathed, clean color palette, intricate composition, etc its all mostly became irrelevant. I saw so many artists who couldnt draw basic perspectives, yet they graduated with degrees.
I also put my brushes aside and learned Adobe, Softimage, then next new software , etc
To my surprise, all of the top artists at several major companies that I worked for still had a very strong classical training, even if they didnt use it. There is a certain level of acknowledgment of the pain of learning those skills from mean old instructors, that does give you a right of passage and a faster rise to the top.
And what about globalization? We already compete with artists from countries where $ stretches so much more, its actually worth it doing vectors for stock.
Lets hope that it still be the same you still need an artist to create an image that stands out. Uneducated eyes just cant do that, but they definitely can dilute the market where good artwork may get lost.
I witnessed how computers changed art, AI might be even more disruptive and scary Im trying my best to learn it as well, it seems easier than learning Adobe, Softimage, Maya, etc Even easier than learning digital painting that so many traditional artists also used to laugh at.
We can protest and fear the future, but today will turn in to a different tomorrow that will be filled with new kind of artists, artists who didnt live in a world without AI and for them AI will be a natural tool, just like Adobe for us.