You don't have to think the AI is better than yourself. Many coding tasks are just repetitive boilerplate... pretty simple stuff. Sometimes you have to set 20 fields on an object, refactor 10 functions to return a default value, write a generic SQL statement that returns data in a specific shape, center a div, or any number of relatively simple tasks. I wouldn't use it for the high level architectural decisions. Just a fancy context-aware autocomplete. Even though I can spell just fine, I use autocomplete on my phone all the time just to save time. I think it's a similar thing for code, if you use it properly. Of course many do just offload all the thinking and do not critically review it's work, but I think that is the wrong approach.
It's not a fixed size of PhD candidates competing. A future PhD candidate may choose to not become a future PhD candidate because of changes. For example, a high school or undergraduate student might read all these articles and statistics about how funding is getting pulled and research is becoming more difficult and choose to take another path. They are no longer a competitor to be a PhD candidate, they do not bid down the prices.
