> FWIW I think LLMs are a dead end for software development, and that the people who think otherwise are exceptionally gullible.

I think this takes away from the main thrust of your argument which is the marketing campaign and to me makes you seem conspiratorial minded. LLMs can be both useful and also mass astroturfing can be happening.

Personally I have witnessed non coders (people who can code a little but have not done any professional software building) like my spouse do some pretty amazing things. So I don’t think it’s useless.

It can be all of:

1. It’s useful for coding

2. There’s mass social media astroturfing happening

3. There’s a massive social overhype train that should be viewed skeptically

4. Theres some genuine word of mouth and developer demand to try the latest models out of curiosity, with some driven by the hype train and irrational exuberance and some by fear for their livelihoods.