some would argue, are built from scratch and are therefore original work that can bypass existing copyright licenses. Others would say that software produced by large language models is inherently derivative

Others would say that, yeah. Others, like the US courts that have already ruled that this is the case.

I'm told 8 times in this article that the project is "satire," and yet, it exists, works (allegedly), and is making money by selling the product they claim to sell.

"It's just a prank bro" doesn't really hold when you are profiting off creating the problem you claim exists.

I believe the appropriate term is "Schroedinger's douchebag" though in a more tech bro silicon valley way.