AI is rapidly becoming the right hand of many coders. Vibe Coding is the latest buzzword. It’s very easy for engineers to make AI prompts with what they need, rather than writing code on a line by line in the traditional way. While AI is undoubtedly turning ideas into workable startups for software engineers and aspiring entrepreneurs, Github CEO Thomas Dohmke believes that human expertise still plays a key role when it comes to business scaling. And that’s important – a lot.
Speaking at Station F during Vivedch in Paris, Dohmke warned budding entrepreneurs that AI coding assistants can help lay the foundation for their business and lower the entry barrier. Dohmke noted that over the past two years he has witnessed a change in thinking as he has experienced “many FOMOs” in the market from persuasive companies to adopt AI.
He emphasized that while AI coding assistants are now able to build businesses that have no small teams and no external funding, the widespread use of so-called Vibe coding makes it difficult for the investors to stand out. “Investors will ask, ‘Why are you investing in you on behalf of the other 10 people?'” he said (via Business Insider). According to Dohmke, bootstrap startups built primarily using AI tools may not retain “value” in the eyes of investors.
Dohmke argues that even though AI can start product development, it cannot replace skilled developers who are essential for building and scaling complex systems. “Non-technical founders will find it difficult to build a large startup without a developer,” he said. “Because we can’t build a complex system to justify the next round.”
“The value of a startup is not defined by what can be developed using inexpensive means,” he added. He says startups need to have a deeper understanding of how their systems work to attract serious investments and continue to grow. At the same time, he warned developers to use AI wisely. “It’s a waste of time if you find a way to write a prompt for something you can do yourself. You know about the skills of prompts, but even when you don’t use the prompts.”
Meanwhile, Github is a platform with over 150 million users worldwide and was acquired by Microsoft in 2018 for $7.5 billion. The platform itself offers a variety of AI tools. Its flagship tool, Github Copilot, is designed to help developers by proposing code snippets and providing explanations. However, even when such tools are freely used, Dohmke argues that basic coding skills remain extremely important in the age of AI.
