1) Yes, they are absolutely useless in a consumer setting. 2) If you want to be a software developer, you absolutely need to know how to understand/interact with one, and you more than likely will need to understand things like https://continue.dev.
I am no longer in software development due to my body slowly (quickly) dying, however I see it all from the sidelines:
1) New tech was rushed to the front lines way too quickly by big tech. 2) Big (and small tech) rushed layoffs way too fast rather than let we devs explore the advantages vs. disadvantages. 3) Companies blame "AI" (LLMs) for layoffs. 4) Most senior devs (including myself) soundly reject AI due to the above. 5) New generation of devs uses AI tools, some struggle occurs where morons don't bother reviewing code that was written by an auto completion engine. 6) We nerds begin to understand the usefulness of LLMs for "the boring part"
Not a shareholder of any company. I'm permanently disabled. Just watching this stuff from the sidelines.