The new nRF Util is now used for device management, replacing nrfjprog. nRF Util supports more device types and provides live monitoring of the connected devices, so you do not have to manually refresh the view every time you connect or disconnect a device.
To support this, the extension now ships with its own isolated instance of nRF Util.
If you are having trouble with the new nRF Util device provider, you can go back to the old nrfjprog-powered view by changing the nrf-connect.deviceProvider setting to nrfjprog.