The answer is simple. Stop working for "big tech" and SV startups. They're the only ones leaning into AI this hard.

Find a role maintaining services instead of scrambling to build shiny new products, and you'll have what you want.

There is plenty to do. The last decade of "move fast and break things" broke a lot of things. The work is challenging and rewarding. You're not cleaning up slop. You're not being given so much rope to hang yourself. You will work with people that have been there for decades. They are not all backwards thinking corporate Java devs.