Me, a year ago:

I've dabbled with vibe coding for some projects on this here blog. The other week I tried to make a little Mac app for work to help with converting files into markdown. It too did not go well...

...The LLM's are so confident in their accuracy, yet so wrong that it creates this maddening loop of sharing errors that make no sense to the vibe coder and an over confident stack of GPUs somewhere proclaiming their accuracy. It is a vicious cycle that isn't what the AI elite would have you believe.

What a difference a year makes; in both the functionality and my opinion.

I see more and more people building tiny apps tailored for their needs and workflows. Websites, dashboards, menu bar apps, etc. etc. are all within reach to make a person's life better in some way.

That conversion process is a breeze now for work. I've made DDDS, a 3DS capture tool designed for the Mac, which never was going to exist without access to tools like this. It's what is allowing me to make an OBS replacement for myself. AI and vibe coding has turned into an empowering toolset.

I so often see strong opinions about the use of AI as the times dictate. Just today Time Extension ran a story about Star Fox modders parting ways over a conflicting stance of using AI to write the code versus assisting. When I pop on Bluesky I see such dissent for AI in any aspect of the video game industry. It matches what John Gruber wrote last month in Bluesky is Full of Anti-AI Zealots:

The reaction on Bluesky to my recent work is like nothing else. It’s largely in the vein that watermarking can’t possibly make AI-generated text worse because it’s already random gibberish, and that the only explanation for my being opposed to this is that I must be using AI to produce my own writing and I’m upset that my scheme will soon be detectable. Read the replies to this one; they speak for themselves.

But then I talk to my developer friends, tech podcasters, and the like and AI is now instrumental in their bug chasing and development. The reactions and audiences are so split and divisive that I often feel quite torn.

One comment on DDDS had a user suggesting I take the time to learn and rewrite the app with non AI generated code. There is just not a world where I can do that. The most coding experience I took in school was HTML and CSS. I don't have the time or expertise to learn math and computer science with my life. But AI has given me the capability of directing development. It has brought to life a tool that has made my life and others better in a small way.

It is an emotional conversation that is wrought with tension. I find myself wrestling with it quite bit having one foot in the gaming community and another in the tech space at large. When I saw this article pop-up in the Previously On section, I didn't anticipate a reflective piece beyond the whole "look how far vibe coding has come" angle. Today, I am (obviously) on board. I suppose we shall see how far it all changes in a year.