What is vibe coding, and how might it benefit non-coders?

• OpenAI co-founder Andrej Karpathy introduced the concept of “vibe coding,” where he commands a Large Language Model (LLM) to generate code.

• The term “vibe coding” is a new approach where the system identifies errors and allows the user to focus on the “vibes” of coding.

• The term has gained popularity due to AI companies releasing models that help users generate code, even without coding knowledge.

• Vibe coding involves users typing text prompts describing the type of code they want, copying and pasting the code to get the desired output.

• However, the outcome may not always be what one expects, as seen in a case where an AI tool added extra code to a pop-up pop-up asking users which pizza flavor they hated the most.

• Advantages of vibe coding include:

• Fun for non-programmers: Provides a fun way to generate code for personal projects without formal learning the more technical aspects.

• Exposes newbies to a wide range of computer languages, coding methodologies, technical uses, and problem-solving approaches.

• For programmers with basic idea of what to do: Can help complete simple projects, identify basic errors, or implement quick bug fixes.

• For experts and highly trained software developers: Can be used in conjunction with traditional coding methods to channel time or energy into tasks that require the most intervention.

Disadvantages of Vibe Coding

• Vibe coding replaces human coders with amateurs or untrained ones, creating a security risk.

• AI code generators may not understand the larger context of the code they are creating, leading to slow running, expensive maintenance, and long security scan times.

• AI-generated code is difficult to hold accountable for incidents like major bugs or security exploits.

• Critics argue that vibe coders are copying or scraping older codes, raising ethical and plagiarism concerns.

• While vibe coding is still experimental, it is unlikely to replace traditional coding due to the lack of context and the risk of transferring entire databases to an LLM.

• AI coding tools are improving, considering the user’s context and their coding style.

• The essence of vibe coding is that the coder is not engaging seriously with their results and lacks line-by-line comprehension of their own code.