Tell that to Kane Parsons (The Backrooms). Or anyone who owns a smartphone. I'd rather watch a million youtube skits where all the actors are played by one person in different wigs than any attempt at passing off AI generated video as big budget special effects.

The animated movie Flow won an Oscar, and that was made by a very small team and entirely in Blender.

Fanvids and AMVs made by clever sampling and splicing have been a thing for a very long time, too.

There are also a lot of games that exclusively use free or self-made assets.

Money allows access to better tools and bigger teams. But replacing artist jobs with AI doesn't seem like a great way for artists to get money (or time to focus on art, for that matter).

Generative AI, especially for video, also keeps getting more expensive, as AI companys' bills finally come due.