I started writing this while angry. Not because AI writes code, but because some people have changed what Vibe Coding actually means. In a moment when technology is being handed to younger and younger people, that is worth thinking about.
There is a larger question underneath: access to educational resources and class advantage. Many committed people have spent years trying to close that gap, and it has not been closed, because the current social and cultural arrangement limits what can be done. We could talk about that, but this is not the right moment. It would pull attention away from the narrower point.
AI programming is no longer an unfamiliar term. Over the last few years, carried by fast information flows, a whole development workflow has been placed in front of people. We stepped onto that track and rushed forward without quite knowing where we were going.
What does AI programming actually require? AI. That sounds obvious, but I think every programming application rests on the same basic foundation. Using a specialized tool and feeding code directly into a model are not fundamentally different. A full client makes sense for large projects because the AI needs to operate on the whole project. My own use of a WebUI is different: I am making concentrated edits and deletions across two to four files, moving forward commit by commit. Same wheel, same rolling motion; only the vehicle changes.
The central point is this: in real development, AI should only assist. Of course, every programming tool is an assistant. What I mean is that writing code should remain the first activity. My workflow reflects that. I constantly ask AI to modify code so that it can improve the code itself, not so that it can assemble the entire project for me. AI-led modification and human-led modification are different concepts and different situations. They suit different groups of people. They should not be mixed together, and they should not be turned into opposites.
None of this is an argument against large development tools. That is not what I am writing about. I also did not publicly put forward a clear thesis of this kind. I was joking around after other group members offered their approaches, and some people responded with heavy rebuttals. That was unnecessary.
Personal needs should guide the way we work. We have to survive and develop inside our own projects, and we also have to bring a friendly heart and respect for others. I made a similar point in Boring People and Uninteresting People, though not exactly the same one. I will write a detailed explanation when necessary. For now, writing this much by pen while angry is already difficult enough, especially with three or four chapters sitting in backlog, waiting to be improved or destroyed.