The issue now is that LLMs increase the blast radius. Before it was one person lighting a firecracker. Now it's one person setting fire to the fireworks factory. For example, the LLM exposes the ME's tools and internal company data to the Internet.
I do not agree to that. Being able to make computers do your bidding is a very powerful skill, but is not universal. Software is a small part of the real world. If LLMs help non-software types tinker and try their own ideas more effectively, vive les LLM! If some folks who write CRUD apps or ad distribution algorithms feel threatened by LLMs, ... well, that is a trade worth taking. My 2c.
For example in years gone by, the ME may have requested data and would have been provided a weekly SQL dump of relevant data in CSV format. No harm if that data is becomes corrupted as it will be replaced in a couple days time.
But now, the ME can prompt the LLM. The LLM may search the company wiki, emails, Sharepoint servers, discover some AWS credentials, and directly access whatever environments those credentials allow, perhaps the production systems. The ME didn't know to tell the LLM to not do this. The ME asked for "n", and the LLM went off and did a bunch of stuff to accomplish "n". Huge harm if production data becomes corrupted, tables modified, etc.
"User asks for the wrong thing, LLMs corrupts production data" -- fair, do not do this, ME, SE or anyone else.
But I am not talking about safety or enterprise critical systems. In those systems a random SE also does not have the skills to comply with implied guardrails and should not have the authority to do damage. Those systems have explicit, enforced guardrails that apply to every request.
I am talking about prototyping and personal projects. We let softwies use a kitchen knife to cut beans and bread without a licensed ME supervision despite the fact that knives can (and do) cause a lot of damage. In the same vein we should let everyone use LLMs as just another tool and set their own safety vs functionality constraints.
If people feel that LLMs are so dangerous that they require specific licensing like firearms, explosives, etc. they should advocate for such licensing. But it will be a hard sell. My 2c.