The truth of it is that when I code with an LLM I scope the work up to include parts that would be a stretch for me to implement. I know what I want them to do, I know where I could find the info to write the code, but the LLM can just spit it out and if it's validate-able, then great, on to the next.

If I were to attack the same system myself without any LLM assist, I'd make a lot of choices to optimize for my speed and knowledge base. The code would end up much simpler. For something that would be handed off to another person (including future me) that can be a win. But if the system is self contained then going bigger and fancier in that moment can be a win. It all depends on the exact goals.

All in all, there's a lot of nuance to this stuff and it's probably not really replacing anyone except people who A) aren't that skilled to start with and B) spend more time yelling about how bad AI is than actually digging in and trying stuff.