Does ‘vibe coding’ make everyone a programmer?

NEW YORK: Can a complete tech novice create a website using everyday language on ChatGPT?

That’s the promise, misleading for some, of ‘vibe coding’, the latest Silicon Valley catchphrase for an advance in generative AI that some say makes computer programming as simple as chatting online. “You fully give in to the vibes, embrace exponentials, and forget that the code even exists,” OpenAI co-founder and former Tesla employee Andrej Karpathy described in early February, in a message posted on X (formerly Twitter), using the term for the first time.

“I’m building a project or web app, but it’s not really coding -- I just see stuff, say stuff, run stuff, and copy paste stuff, and it mostly works,” he said.

The developer and entrepreneur was referring to the new generative AI models that produce lines of code on demand in everyday language, through writing or speech. The concept of ‘vibe coding’ remained confined to the AI community until New York Times columnist Kevin Roose claimed to have created websites and apps without any knowledge of programming.

“Just having an idea, and a little patience, is usually enough,” he wrote. The ChatGPT and Claude interfaces can write an entire programme line by line on demand, as can Gemini, which launched its dedicated version, Gemini Canvas, on Tuesday.

Other generative AI platforms specifically dedicated to coding have also made their mark in recent months, from Cursor to Loveable, or Bolt, Replit and Windsurf. “Maybe, just maybe, we’re looking at a fundamental shift in how software is created and who creates it,” said online marketing specialist Mattheo Cellini on Substack.