Not quite. It's that there have always been very few people throughout history who were actually able to make a decent living based on solely being an artist - and in most cases, this required wealthy patronage. Spitzweg's "Poor Poet" remains timeless and relevant for a reason.

This kind of reaction isn't irrational. The fact of the matter is that if you want your children to not be poor, you won't tell them that they can turn art into a career, but instead encourage their passions while also providing them with everything in your power so that they they'll be able to reliably feed themselves. Let them paint, draw, write, play music as a hobby, but also make sure their grades are good outside of those areas.

I still wish this CEO would have an unfortunate accident with a Roomba that cures him of his brain-dead thoughts on art and AI, but let's be real for once.