The way developers use artificial intelligence to write software is changing fast, according to AI expert Andrej Karpathy. The researcher believes the industry is moving beyond vibe coding and entering a new phase that relies more on managing AI agents than writing code directly.
Vibe coding, a term coined by Karpathy, refers to using AI tools to generate code quickly and intuitively. Over the past year, the phrase has gained massive attention across the tech industry. Karpathy recently shared on X that he never expected the term to become so popular, noting, “Vibe coding is now mentioned on my Wikipedia as a major memetic ‘contribution’ and even its article is longer”. He also recalled that when he introduced the term in February 2025, AI models were far less capable. At that time, he said, “Large Language Model (LLM) capability was low enough that you’d mostly use vibe coding for fun throwaway projects, demos and explorations.”
According to Karpathy, the role of AI in programming has expanded rapidly since then. Vibe coding has moved from experimentation to becoming a default approach for many developers. However, he now feels the term no longer captures how serious and structured AI assisted coding has become. He explained, “The goal is to claim the leverage from the use of agents but without any compromise on the quality of the software.” To better define this shift, he introduced a new phrase that he believes reflects current practice, saying, “Many people have tried to come up with a better name for this to differentiate it from vibe coding, personally my current favourite ‘agentic engineering.’”
Karpathy described agentic engineering as a model where AI agents write most of the code, while humans focus on guidance and review. He said, “’agentic’ because the new default is that you are not writing the code directly 99% of the time, you are orchestrating agents who do and acting as oversight.” He added that this still requires expertise, explaining, “’engineering’ to emphasise that there is an art & science and expertise to it. It’s something you can learn and become better at, with its own depth of a different kind.” His remarks come as AI coding becomes mainstream, with NodeJS creator Ryan Dahl stating that humans writing code is coming to an end, while leaders like Sundar Pichai and Sam Altman have also highlighted the growing impact of vibe coding tools.
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