Vibe Coding Isn’t the Solution

Since the rollout and the global release of ChatGPT, the world has witnessed an unprecedented change in how we work in today’s modern world. The profession and speciality doesn’t matter, ChatGPT has affected every. Single. Person.

Software Engineers are using AI to generate code, students are using it to cheat and generate reports for their studies and assignments, consultants are using it to generate content to fulfill engagements.

How is it that this is acceptable? Humanity is walking on the wrong path. This is absolutely preposterous and wrong in my opinion. Hear me out, AI is great and beneficial, but when humans no longer utilize their brain and its neurons to think through problems and come up with solutions based on their knowledge and activities, then your brain, as a muscle, is no longer being used.

We have shifted our critical thinking and intelligence and told AI, “Here you go, I no longer need to think for myself.” Exactly. With this thinking, you no longer need to conduct research, you no longer need to read, and you no longer need to study and perform a deep dive into the subject you’re pursuing.

We are becoming lazy and are rushing to perform tasks through AI when we are meant to do these tasks ourselves! Are you still not convinced that this is detrimental to the purpose and pleasure of the learning and building process of anything we do?

Let me make this clear: I am a Software Engineer and a Designer, and I have been through more than 6 years of full-time programming, design, and product building. I have been using AI from time to time to get through the “boring” parts of programming, and then, as I got used to using AI for these “boring” parts, I noticed, without thinking, I started to use AI to do all my work. Why bother?

Ah, there we go, this is where this technology really stands. If you compare this generation of folks with the previous, you’ll see the trajectory of the laziness graph increasing significantly. This is why many experts consider AI the last invention of humans. The justification of the extreme usage and reliance on this technology is the “boring” parts of our work. Well, this is escalating, it’s no longer the boring parts anymore, is it — people are transitioning from the boring parts to all the parts.

You then have the concept of “Vibe coding”. Vibe coding means you use AI to build software for you. You simply write a prompt and it will generate the code for you. People are lying to themselves and pretending that they have built all kinds of software and programs, meanwhile they have no idea how what they have “built” works.

You didn’t build anything, the AI did. So why are we kidding ourselves? People should learn the fundamentals of programming and software, before even using AI to do anything for you. The overall message of this post is: AI is making us lazier, and I genuinely believe and see that people are becoming lazier, and not more productive. It’s quite convenient and easy to say AI is making you more productive. How is it making you more productive though?

Now, when I use AI to do any level of coding in my job or side projects, the code generated can be painful and frustrating to work with, especially when I prompt it with very clear instructions and specific tasks, basic ones, and it struggles to do them. Even if it does them successfully, the code can be un-necessarily complex and not optimized. As I read the code and go over it, I find myself spending more time editing the code than I would have if I had written it myself. Maybe this is poor usage of AI from my side, but unlikely. It could also simply mean that AI is just not good enough today, quite clearly it is not.

You using AI to do everything for you does not equate to productivity. There’s a recent MIT study that has shown that ChatGPT has an impact on our brains, and a serious one. The paper has suggested that the usage of LLMs could actually harm learning.

The sample size of the study is small, since the study has only been divided between 54 subjects — 18 to 39 year olds from the Boston area into three groups. The TLDR is: these three groups of people have been asked to write 20-minute essays based on SAT prompts.

- The first group wrote essays using ChatGPT, and they all delivered very similar essays. Two english teachers who assessed the essays called them largely "soulless". The EEGs have shown low control and attentional engagement.

- The second group, using their brains only, showed the highest neutral connectivity, especially in alpha, theta, and delta bands. These are associated with creativity ideation, memory load, and semantic processing. This group of people also were more engaged and curious, and they expressed higher satisfaction with their essays.

- The third group that used Google Search, also expressed high satisfaction and active brain function.

I think we can all derive the results from this study, it is clear.

So, what do we do? use AI to find learning material and sources quicker, but do not use it to do your work for you. Absolutely no. Especially as Software Engineers, because just a week of regular usage, I found myself forgetting to even how to write code and basic syntax. You'll find much more other Software Engineers as well who have struggled with this issue as well. One of them is the popular Youtuber ThePrimeTime.