Yeah, the places to use it are (1) boilerplate code that is so predictable a machine can do it, and (2) with a big pinch of salt for advice when a web search didn’t give you what you need. In the second case, expect at best a half-right answer that’s enough to get you thinking. You can’t use it for anything sophisticated or critical. But you now have a bit more time to think that stuff through because the LLM cranked out some of the more tedious code.

(1) boilerplate code that is so predictable a machine can do it

The thing I hate most about it is that we should be putting effort into removing the need for boilerplate. Generating it with a non-deterministic 3rd party black box is insane.

Hard disagree. There is a certain level of boilerplate that is necessary for an app to do everything it needs. Django, for example, requires you to specify model files, admin files, view files, form files, etc. that all look quite similar but are dependent on your specific use case. You can easily have an AI write these boilerplate for you because they are strongly related to one another, but they can’t easily be distilled down to something simpler because there are key decisions that need specified.

Is it possible to use deterministic automation for some boilerplate instead of LLMs?

Sure but it’s a lot less flexible. As much hate as they get, LLMs are the best natural language processors we have. By FAR.