LLMs aren't bad for programming in general.
LLMs are bad for bad programmers. LLMs will make a bad programmer worse and make a layperson think they're a prodigy.
Meanwhile, the truly skilled programmers are using LLMs to great success. You can get a huge amount of value and productivity from an LLM if and only if you have the skill to do it yourself in the first place.
LLMs are not a tool that magically makes anyone a good programmer. Expecting that to be the case is exactly why they don't work for you. You must already be a good programmer to use these tools effectively.
I have no idea what this will do to the rising generation of programmers and engineers. Frankly I'm terrified for them.
If you aren't aware: a Virtual Private Network creates a fully encrypted link between you and a remote node. So long as your encryption keys are secure, there's no way for anyone (even a global superpower) to listen to or intrude on that connection. There is no possible way to break into this connection, even with the entire planet's computing resources.
From the outside, all you can see is a stream of encrypted data between two nodes. You cannot tell where the traffic goes once it exits the VPN server or what it contains.
The only way to compromise a VPN connection is the most straightforward and pedestrian: compromise the VPN host and directly spy on their clients with their own hardware.
The GFW certainly can and has detected such encrypted streams and blocked them for being un-inspectable. With a VPN you can perfectly hide what you're doing and you can perfectly prevent intrusion. You cannot prevent someone noticing you're using a VPN. China can simply blanket ban connections that look like VPN traffic. But they cannot tell what you're doing with that VPN.