Coding used to be about writing every line yourself, structuring logic, and debugging for hours. Now, vibe coding is shifting that approach. The term, coined by Andrej Karpathy, describes a new way of working where developers guide AI to generate code instead of writing it manually. Instead of focusing on syntax, they describe what they need and refine the AI’s output until it works.
Pieter Levels recently tested this idea by building a flight simulator in 48 hours with AI doing most of the coding. He didn’t write everything from scratch but worked with AI tools, adjusting and improving the generated code. Platforms like Cursor, Replit, and Lovable are making this process easier by letting developers focus more on the bigger picture instead of the technical details. Even GitHub Copilot is moving past simple code suggestions and taking on full coding tasks.
For some, this means faster development and fewer tedious tasks. For others, it raises concerns. If AI is doing more of the work, will future developers need to understand how their software actually functions, or will they just need to be good at prompting AI? If coding keeps moving in this direction, what does it really mean to be a developer?