Why we need to reject vibe-coding

So, in 2025 the internet was all hyped for so called vibe-coding. After crypto, blockchain and GenAI, vibe-coding (as being related to GenAI) was the next thing you were told not to miss out on.

Social media tends to exaggerate everything and so it did with vibe-coding as well. In it's extreme form, the "Vibe-coder" (insert throw-up emoji here) will merely prompt their AI tool in order for it to make an app. Then they will feed the AI with error messages in case something's not working. This is repeated until the app is finally functional. The Vibe-Coder does not understand the technical details of the resulted software, so in conclusion they would not be able to manually provide fixes and updates (manually in terms of actual programming).

Now we need to make clear that the term "vibe-coding" does not yet have a specific definition. One group says, if you ask ChatGPT for a regex pattern, this counts as vibe-coding, too. Another group may disagree here, as prompting for a RegEx pattern is merely a faster road instead of using Google (which is utter crap since a few years) to eventually arrive at a StackOverflow thread.

Personally, I don't mind asking, say, ChatGPT for something simple as asking for a RegEx pattern. However I strongly oppose the first mentioned radical vibe-coding approach. And here comes the reasoning for my strong oppositon.


Lack of technical knowledge

In it's extreme form, the vibe-coder is not a software developer / programmer. They do not understand the source-code, so they need to fully rely on the used AI tool. This is strongly problematic, as they cannot manually provide updates, fix bugs and adapt the generated software. Test-driven development will most likely not exist, as this approach is something that humans do to verify the working of the project's parts. Imagine relying on something that no one understands. Putting the product in production will not be something with validated functionality. You can't verify if the product works in all aspects. This will be harder and harder the more complex the project is. Whether the product works or not, is not technically validated, but merely an educated guess.


Legal ownership

Now you vibe-coded (shame on you) your product. But do you own it? Maybe, because the generous company behind the AI tool grants you full rights for your generated app. For now. We do already know how big tech companies like to provide the best user experience as possible at the beginning, only for it to create as much dependence as possible, then turn everything into the worst experience possible for maximum profits. This phenomenon is called enshittification, which exists for a while now and is a serious concern. It's extremely likely that this will happen with Vibe-Coding tools as well. And then, one day, you wake up and realize that you don't have the full permission to do everything with your software as it pleases you. You will read through a long wall of text known as terms and conditions in order to verify what rights are granted to you. You will need to select a premium tier to commercially ship your app. Oh, and don't get me started on the yearly increase of prices. While knowing there have been programming languages out there that are FOSS and thus grant you all the rights you can dream of. And these languages have been existing since decades.


Legal responsibility

Who's responsible for potential damages in sensitive areas? Will you vibe-code a full app for a health care department? Will your vibe-coded tool be used in monitoring systems for patients currently hospitalized at a critical care unit? Now, if something goes wrong, can you take responsibility, both personally and legally? And how fast can you provide an update to ensure everything goes back to normal? What's with your commercial licensing between your legal entity and the AI tool provider entity?


Conclusion

No, I really don't think hopping aboard the vibe-coding train is something we should be enthusiastic about no questions asked. On the contrary, we should defy it everywhere. Yes, abstraction is real. You can code an entire web application without needing to be familiar with the web server software or even with the CPU instruction set of the machine your web app runs on. BUT there are real humans that work on all these parts, from machine code to system code, to interpreter/VM code, to the framework code. And the app code. Every part is occupied by actual human beings that understand what they are doing. However, a GenAI tool cannot understand, technically. That's the fine difference. Think about it.

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