This is a quality-of-life improvement, making it so players don't have to select a target each time Blood Artist triggers.
I think this actually makes the card functionally better. When [[Shalai, Voice of Plenty]] or a similar effect was on the battlefield, you couldn't target your opponent with Blood Artist and the game automatically targeted you. Now you still won't be able to target your opponent, but at least your Blood Artist won't turn traitor.