I really feel the opposite of backed in a corner
One key point- AI literally couldn't exist without humans and their creativity. You fundamentally have to have humans to have AI, unless you think aliens made AI or something. The soul does matter, because without all the souls throughout human history developing civilization in technology, the system never could've come to exist. It took the work of the entire world to build this system, to build a civilization stable enough for technology development like this.
Who made the machines to put AI in?
Who made the algorithms?
Who controls the training data?
What will AI's purpose be without humanity? Does AI have any purpose without humanity? You talk like you already know what it's gonna do you when it supposedly doesn't need humanity anymore.