Comment by jameson
6 hours ago
Vibe coders' argument* is that quality of code does not matter because LLMs can iterate much much faster then humans do.
Consider this overly simplified process of writing a logic to satisfy a requirement:
1. Write code
2. Verify
3. Fix
We, humans, know the cost of each step is high, so we come up various way to improve code quality and reduce cognitive burden. We make it easier to understand when we have to revisit.
On the other hand, LLMs can understand** a large piece of code quickly***, and in addition, compile and run with agentic tools like Claude Code at the cost of token****. Quality does not matter to vibe coders if LLMs can fill the function logic that satisfies the requirement by iterating the aforementioned steps quickly.
I don't agree with this approach and have seen too many things broken from vibe code, but perhaps they are right as LLMs get better.
* Anecdotal
** I see LLM as just a probabilistic function so it doesn't "reason" like humans do. It's capable of highly advanced problem solving yet it also fails at primitive task.
*** Relative to human
**** Cost of token I believe is relatively cheaper compared to a full-time engineer and it'll get cheaper over time.
> ** Cost of token I believe is relatively cheaper compared to a full-time engineer and it'll get cheaper over time.
I don't know how true this is going to be, at least in the short term. The big providers are likely running at a loss and, as models have gotten better, they've also crept up in price as well.
They/you are counting on them hitting a point where it is actually cheap for the value provided (after they take some off the top) but I don't see that as inevitable before these companies go under or pivot into much more specialized tools for big clients.
It's not clear to me that AI code is cheaper than human code (of equal functionality).