Perhaps artists felt the same way about the invention of photography.
Quite possibly, and in the end, photography didn't destroy art. If anything, it improved it.
Too early to tell what AI might do, partly because we cannot predict just how good AI might become at art, or the extent to which AI art will keep on requiring skilled prompt writers. I fear many illustration jobs may go away (photography killed off such jobs as, for example, newspaper illustrator), which will affect fine artists indirectly, because lots of suddenly unemployed illustrators will then pour into the fine art market. But at this point, we don't know.
One thing I'm pretty certain of though is that all the lawsuits are pointless. AI art does not infringe on legal copyright, and it is not going to get sued out of existence anyway. Within two decades everyone will be used to it and wonder what all the fuss was about.
Remember Napster? That was going to utterly destroy the music industry, and even worse, mean the end of professional musicians? It got hammered with legal proceedings (I seem to recall that its boss was even imprisoned?). And today? I cannot remember when last I paid for music, because everything I want is available for free on YouTube. Doesn't seem to prevent good musicians from making a living. But musicians had to adapt (and now, with AI music, they'll need to adapt again).
Us artists will have to adapt or find other jobs. It's as simple as that. I don't like it any more than anyone else.