It's great that she takes joy in his work, and sad that economics is pushing her to focus on different details with less joy. But the same can be said for a horse groom who loves her work being pushed to transition into a mechanic. Change sucks, but less than petrification.

“A creature who has spent his life creating one particular representation of his selfdom will die rather than become the antithesis of that representation” ― Frank Herbert, Dune Messiah

"Petrification" still sucks less than enshittification. Most of the so-called progress from AI is making the world worse for the average person.

The author is a woman, not sure why you assumed they identifed as he/him.