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Clearly removing all plants gets rid of all weeds as well. I see no problems here.

somewhat related xkcd comic https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/cells.png

Correct, we want something that selectively kills specific types of plants that aren't desired in agricultural contexts. We have lots of ways of killing plants.

The original paper is pretty clear that they're talking about killing plants, not just weeds, but that it might be useful for targeting weeds with it.[1]

Roundup, which they mention, is another example. It kills anything leafy (that isn't Roundup ready), but people call it a weed killer anyway.

Can't believe the original comment was flagged.

[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/srep45871

Plants are also known to be hostile to other plants. For example, leaves of walnut trees contain natural herbicides that stop other trees from growing and become competition. This is just another example of such behavior.