The Rise of Vibe Coding in Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley isn't just coding anymore. It's "vibe coding." This new buzzword, coined by Andrej Karpathy, the computer scientist who cofounded OpenAI, is capturing the movement. Using AI to write code has been gaining traction for years, but now, a new kind of coding is emerging where you fully give in to the vibes and forget the code even exists.

Karpathy described this approach as defying conventional wisdom in the tech industry, which traditionally demands virtuosic skill from engineers. Instead, he sees coding as a more intuitive process: "It's not really coding — I just see stuff, say stuff, run stuff, and copy-paste stuff, and it mostly works," he wrote on X. This method leverages AI's ability to write code, which has significantly improved since ChatGPT's release in late 2022. Karpathy even suggested that the hottest new programming language is English, highlighting how smart prompting can generate good lines of code.

The arrival of AI that can "vibe" code into existence has some industry leaders predicting big changes ahead. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman expects software engineering to be very different by the end of 2025. Mark Zuckerberg also mentioned on the Joe Rogan Experience that AI would soon do the work of midlevel Meta engineers.

To give a sense of what "vibe coding" looks like in action, Karpathy shared a few ways in which he's been using AI. One example is using a digital workspace tool called Composer, made by OpenAI and A16z-backed startup Cursor AI, alongside the Sonnet model from AI lab Anthropic. Composer is an AI coding assistant that helps users explore code, write new features, and modify existing code. When used with Anthropic's AI, making an app from scratch becomes easier, as the AI just needs to be guided by the user.

Karpathy also mentioned using SuperWhisper, an AI-powered voice-to-text tool, to "talk" to Composer. This means he can do things with code in Composer without having to barely even touch the keyboard. If there's a mistake, his approach is simple: "When I get error messages, I just copy and paste them in with no comment; usually, that fixes it".

Others are adopting similar methods at a time when AI coding agents can be set simple instructions to do the heavy lifting that would have once required seasoned engineers to spend hours reading through reams of code. For beginners, this can be incredibly satisfying, as they can build something that works in the space of an hour. Harry Law, an AI researcher at the University of Cambridge, noted that for a total beginner, this approach can be very rewarding.

Amjad Masad, CEO of Replit, a software company backed by A16z and Y Combinator, addressed Karpathy's original post, saying that 75% of Replit customers never write a single line of code. This highlights the growing trend of using AI to simplify the coding process and make it more accessible to everyone.

In conclusion, vibe coding represents a significant shift in the way software is developed. By leveraging AI, coding becomes more intuitive and accessible, allowing both seasoned engineers and beginners to create functional applications with ease. As AI continues to evolve, we can expect even more innovative approaches to coding in the future.

Cited: https://www.businessinsider.com/vibe-coding-ai-silicon-valley-andrej-karpathy-2025-2, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vibe_coding, https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/03/is-vibe-coding-with-ai-gnarly-or-reckless-maybe-some-of-both/, https://x.com/karpathy/status/1886192184808149383