The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has published a blog post exploring the potential for ‘vibe coding’ replacing the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) business model. While not suggesting that vibe coding is ready to take over now, they conclude that vibe coding is following a pattern similar to cloud adoption 20 years ago.
Here we review some of the ideas discussed.
What is vibe coding?
Vibe coding is a term used for writing computer code using Artificial Intelligence (AI), often without any human review.
Currently, vibe coding does not necessarily work well for someone who has little or no technical experience. While anyone can create code using AI, it’s often unreliable, hard to maintain or may have critical issues.
However, experienced developers who know how to code and review the work of others are finding that vibe coding can greatly increase their productivity.
While there are concerns about the quality and how to maintain the code, businesses are beginning to find that vibe coding can offer a viable alternative to expensive SaaS subscriptions.
How have we got to here?
In the past, running a software application in a business usually meant buying the software, installing and configuring it on computers and/or servers owned by the business and kept at the business’ premises. Applying an update to the software could take significant time and energy.
With the advent of cloud computing and SaaS, this process was simplified. The software remains on the servers of the software supplier, with the user accessing it online, usually through a web browser. This approach means that the supplier updates the software themselves, and each user is always able to access an up-to-date version.
Examples of SaaS used by many businesses include:
- Sage, Xero and QuickBooks for bookkeeping.
- Trello, Jira or Monday for project management.
- Google Docs for word processing.
While convenient, SaaS does come with some downsides. For instance, there is the security concern of data being held outside the business. Also, because SaaS is built to meet the requirements of many customers, it does not always address the specific needs within a business. In addition, the cost of software continues to increase, with suppliers moving desirable functionality into higher-priced tiers.
As a result, some businesses are finding that vibe coding enables them to self-build relatively inexpensive solutions that reduce their reliance on SaaS and the costs that go with it.
What may the future look like?
Vibe coding does not come without risks. Potentially, AI could be used to generate code that no human ever reviews. If so, what guarantees will there be about how secure the code is? How will the code be maintained?
These are questions that the IT profession will need to address before vibe coding will be accepted by a wider audience.
To be clear, the NCSC is not advocating for vibe coding and the risks currently involved in vibe coding are considerable. However, their article does indicate that we could be hearing a lot more about vibe coding in the coming years.
See: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/blogs/vibe-check-ai-may-replace-saas-but-not-for-a-while
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