Who needs software developers when you've got AI?

Introducing Vibe Coding—where literally anyone can create chaos in code. No experience necessary; just vibes, prompts, and a dash of misplaced confidence.

Coined by OpenAI co-founder Andrej Karpathy in February, vibe coding is described as:

"A new kind of coding where you fully give in to the vibes, embrace exponentials, and forget that the code even exists. I’m building a project or web app—but it’s not really coding. I just see stuff, say stuff, run stuff, copy-paste stuff, and it mostly works."

While vibe coding might quickly get you to a proof-of-concept, it won't do you any favours once the complexity grows. Just ask Joseph Cooney, who was recently called upon to rescue an app when vibe coding hit its inevitable wall.

Key lessons learned include:

• Rapid Start, Painful Finish: Quick wins quickly spiral into complexity, with every fix introducing even more bugs.

• Consistency Nightmare: Patterns that work once rarely work again.

• State Management Mess: Inconsistent approaches lead to unpredictable outcomes.

• AI Hallucinations: Unexpected "features" quietly break the system.

Vibe coding might seem appealing, but real software still demands real developers—professionals who understand fundamentals, structure, and architecture. Even Sam Altman has recently tempered his predictions about AI replacing software developers entirely.

Details on Patient Zero's recent experience in a vibe coding rescue project can be found here: https://www.pz.com.au/our-first-vibe-coding-rescue-project