> What confuses me about this stance is that LLMs are basically indistinguishable from any mid-to-low-tier dev.

I disagree. Behind an LLM sits a developer. They steer the LLM. For them, directions to the LLM is the preferred form of modification of the software. The output of the LLM is not a preferred form anymore. This poses a huge problem for free software, especially when the LLM that translates preferred form into "source code" is not FOSS.

The low-tier dev was not used in this way.