I think people are upset by the legitimate problems that they see, but I think they typically mis-diagnose the cause of the problems.
People are scared to lose their jobs, and their livelihood, for good reason. Capitalism sucks, and it ties the two together.
I'm pro automation, because I want people to lose their jobs. What I don't want is for them to lose their livelihood. I think people working on jobs that they don't like just to pay the bills is dumb, but people working on jobs that they enjoy is awesome.
But they are also "...things which could easily be done by a human, taking away from actual people and putting the benefit of that work into the hands of corporations".
They fit your criteria perfectly.
Tell me you don't know how LLMs work, without telling me that you don't know how LLMs work. Guessing is a very powerful tool, and the smartest people I know spend a lot of their time "guessing".
Video games "waste" electricity. Cars "waste" electricity. Spreadsheets "waste" electricity. Grow-lights "waste" electricity. I don't see how LLMs are all that different.
I have to check the output my co-workers do. Does that make me a "glorified spellchecker" ?
I get that you don't like LLMs, but if you want to convince me of anything, you'll either have to make your values consistent, or come up with something that LLMs damage that is unique to LLMs, and inherently part of their function.