I wonder how AI will affect open source. It’s not just that you can’t claim ownership of your code because it can’t be copyrighted; why contribute to an app when you can simply build your own version?
If we take one of Paul Thurott’s hundred Markdown editors, in the past you might have simply forked it, added a feature, and then opened a PR to get it merged upstream. The rise of vibe coding tools means that, if you need a feature that isn’t there, you can just build your own program that works the way you want it to.
That’s not to mention that you may already have cut your teeth on hobby projects. But what value does a vibe-coded portfolio offer? You might have used GitHub to show a potential employer or course director your skills, but if we’re all vibe-coding, what does having a GitHub account really mean?
Because open source is generally a labour of love. People do it, because they enjoy it, they enjoy the challenge, they want to see things work, look at what they have achieved, and if other people like it and use it, all the better.
On the other side, a majority of people won’t be able to vibe code things, at least not with the complexity of the current tools. We might have fun with vibe coding and using computers, but a majority of people don’t. They reluctantly use electronic devices, because they have no other option. They don’t care about how they work, the app they need is there, it does more or less what they want, then they can throw the device back on the counter, when they are finished, and get on with their lives.
For most people, the devices and the apps just aren’t important, not important enough for them to want to get to know how to use them. They want finished, working things set before them, because they just don’t have the interest or the patience to set things up themselves, they don’t have the imagination to be able to ask an AI to code something up for them.
Edit: Interestingly, this was echoed in Listener Feedback on Security Now this week, a developer was complaining that his company was now using AI to vibe code and it has stripped all of the job fulfillment away, the guy is now writing personal projects without AI, because that is fun and his job is no longer fun or satisfying.
Sometimes referred to as scratching their own itch. It’s hard to know what will happen with open source. When it comes to vibe coded (aka LLM written code) I don’t personally feel any sense of ownership over code I didn’t write, or didn’t even struggle to conceive of. If I feel any propriety over anything, it’d be the idea and the expression of it. It’s kinda like eating a bag of chips or cookies or something… there’s the momentary thrill of solving a problem, but then you can do it again the next day, and the day after that… and none of it remains very memorable… but you get fat and happy
I sincerely doubt that there will remain people who even can code on their own. People like me who spent decades learning the ropes and making the mistakes that taught hard lessons are going to become old dinosaurs and when we die off, there won’t be a generation to replace us. The next generation is just going to take it for granted that the computer can write code to do whatever they want done, if not just outright do it without even writing specific code. Once you can just “ask and receive”… when the computer is basically a genie granting wishes… the value of apps and custom written code completely evapourates.
I fear that is true, but we also see the retro scene. I have some hope that that will at least keep some enthusiasts learning how things are done. I can’t remember which guest it was, off the top of my head, but he runs a code camp or University programme, where he teaches 6502 and 6507 programming for the Atari 2600 and it is booked out, from what I can remember.
I think what gets me is that we’ll eventually reach a point where we don’t know how anything works under the hood. And the only people who know programming languages will get old and die, so no one will be able to maintain/fix this stuff when it goes wrong.
Maybe that’s what AI doomsters mean when they say the end is nigh: we stop learning to code, everyone who knows how to fix the system dies out, and then no one can repair the reactor when it’s about to fail. Welcome to a potential Chornobyl 2.0.
So… let’s all try and have fun before we die in the nuclear apocalypse.
why contribute to an app when you can simply build your own version?
Why go to a restaurant when you can cook at home?
There’s a big difference between the ability to vibe code and knowing what it takes to make a good, usable, intuitive piece of software. That applies to open source and closed source projects alike.
Are you saying that vibe-coding is eating at home or in a restaurant?
If everyone can have their own version of an app, does it really matter whether yours is viable or intuitive for anyone else? If it is, great. If not, who cares?
The one area where I agree with you is that, if we take the artcraft stuff, for instance, it’ll take them years if not decades to catch up fully to where the Adobe products are
Fair enough. Obviously if it works for you if works for you, but I think that in general this idea that vibe coded boutique software will kill the industry (I know you didn’t say that but others have) isn’t that convincing.
