> And finally: Why bother making new software at all when AI can just do the thing you wanted done, directly?

In many ways, the "save costs by LLM-ing everything" mindset is the same logical fallacy companies fell into in the 90's/00's with regard to outsourcing. The end-state was rationalizing outsourcing call centers, then production system support, then software development, then project management, then...

Once the outsourcing raptor came for the accountants (who wrote the cheques) and remaining management (who cashed quarterly bonus cheques), outsourcing became "less appealing."