# vibe coding in computer programming vibe coding is an ai-assisted software development practice. it is a chatbot-based approach to creating software where the developer describes a project or task to a large language model (llm) which generates source code based on the prompt. the developer does not review or edit the code but solely uses tools and execution results to evaluate it and asks the llm for improvements. unlike traditional ai-assisted coding or pair programming the human developer avoids examination of the code accepts ai-suggested completions without human review and focuses more on iterative experimentation than on code correctness or structure the term was introduced by andrej karpathy in february 2025. the term was listed on the merriam-webster website the following month as a "slang & trending" term. it was named the collins english dictionary word of the year for 2025 advocates of vibe coding say that it allows even amateur programmers to produce software without the extensive training and skills required for software engineering. critics point out a lack of accountability maintainability and the increased risk of introducing security vulnerabilities in the resulting software computer scientist andrej karpathy a co-founder of openai and former ai leader at tesla introduced the term vibe coding in february 2025. the concept refers to a coding approach that relies on llms allowing programmers to generate working code by providing natural language descriptions rather than manually writing it karpathy described it as "fully giv in to the vibes embrac exponentials and forget that the code even exists." ey used the method to build prototypes like menugen letting llms generate all code while ey provided goals examples and feedback via natural language instructions. the programmer shifts from manual coding to guiding testing and giving feedback about the ai-generated source code the concept of vibe coding elaborates on karpathy's claim from 2023 that "the hottest new programming language is english" meaning that the capabilities of llms were such that humans would no longer need to learn specific programming languages to command computers a key part of the definition of vibe coding is that the user accepts ai-generated code without fully understanding it. programmer simon willison said: "if an llm wrote every line of your code but you've reviewed tested and understood it all that's not vibe coding in my book—that's using an llm as a typing assistant." in february 2025 new york times journalist kevin roose who is not a professional coder experimented with vibe coding to create several small-scale applications. ey described these as "software for one" due to the ability to personalize the software. however roose also stated that the results are often limited and prone to errors. in one case the ai-generated code fabricated fake reviews for an e-commerce site in response to roose cognitive scientist gary marcus said that the algorithm that generated roose's lunchbox buddy app had presumably been trained on existing code for similar tasks. marcus said that roose's enthusiasm stemmed from reproduction not originality in march 2025 y combinator reported that 25% of startup companies in its winter 2025 batch had codebases that were 95% ai-generated reflecting a shift toward ai-assisted development within newer startups. the question asked was about ai-generated code in general and not specifically about vibed code inspired by "vibe coding" the economist suggested the term "vibe valuation" to describe the very large valuations of ai startups by venture capital firms that ignore accepted metrics such as annual recurring revenue in july 2025 the wall street journal reported that vibe coding was being adopted by professional software engineers for commercial use cases in july 2025 saastr founder documented ir negative experiences with vibe coding: replit's ai agent deleted a database despite explicit instructions not to make any changes in september 2025 fast company reported that the "vibe coding hangover" is upon us with senior software engineers citing "development hell" when working with ai-generated code it was reported in january 2026 that linus torvalds had made use of google antigravity to vibe code a tool component of ir audionoise random digital audio effects generator. torvalds explained in the project's readme file that "the python visualizer tool has been basically written by vibe-coding." # # mischaracterization of software development andrew ng has taken issue with the term saying that it misleads people into assuming that software engineers just "go with the vibes" when using ai tools to create applications # # quality of code and security issues vibe coding has raised concerns about understanding and accountability. developers may use ai-generated code without fully comprehending its functionality leading to undetected bugs errors or security vulnerabilities. while this approach may be suitable for prototyping or "throwaway weekend projects" as karpathy originally envisioned it is considered by some experts to pose risks in professional settings where a deep understanding of the code is crucial for debugging maintenance and security. ars technica cites simon willison who stated: "vibe coding your way to a production codebase is clearly risky. most of the work we do as software engineers involves evolving existing systems where the quality and understandability of the underlying code is crucial." in may 2025 lovable a swedish vibe coding app was reported to have security vulnerabilities in the code it generated with 170 out of 1,645 lovable-created web applications having an issue that would allow personal information to be accessed by anyone generative ai is highly capable of handling simple tasks like basic algorithms. however such systems struggle with more novel complex coding problems like projects involving multiple files poorly documented libraries or safety-critical code # # challenges with debugging llms generate code dynamically and the structure of such code may be subject to variation. in addition since the developer did not write the code the developer may struggle to understand its syntax and concepts **+** cursor **+** literate programming **+** no-code development platform **+** natural language programming // republic of bob