The Next Billion Seconds with Mark Pesce ALWAYS IMPERFECT: "VIBE SLOGGING"
Sep 23, 2025
John Allsopp, an experienced web and software practitioner and conference organizer, joins to explore the transformative impact of AI on software development. He discusses whether programmers might become obsolete or merely act as cleanup crews for messy AI-generated code. The conversation dives into the intricate balance between AI’s efficiency in tool creation and the complexity it introduces. John also shares insights about non-technical users leveraging AI to build applications, raising questions about the expectations versus realities in engineering.
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ChatGPT Helped Build A Citation Checker
- Mark Pesce asked ChatGPT to write a regex to find legal citations and initially got wrong code.
- He then pasted the brief and ChatGPT generated better code it used itself, which he adapted into a working tool.
AI As An Accelerant When Guided
- Mark's citation tool will be released free because AI helped him solve the hard parts quickly.
- The experience demonstrates AI's role as an accelerant when guided correctly.
Vibe Coding Is More Slog Than Magic
- The promise of "vibe coding" looks attractive but the reality feels like a slow, messy slog.
- AI can accelerate parts of programming but doesn't yet deliver perfect, effortless development.