A recurring event for local tech savvy developers and computer aficionados is bringing participants together this weekend to test the limits of a new way of computer programming. It’s called “vibe coding.”
A term coined this year, vibe coding is a software development method that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to generate computer code from natural language prompts. For example, instead of a coder hand-writing complicated computer code to build an application, a vibe-coder might instruct an AI tool to “design an app that helps connect people to a local restaurant.”
The AI tool then develops the coding that makes the app tick, leaving the user to focus on big-picture ideas, rather than the ins and outs of coding. But the coder has to know enough to know whether the app works correctly. (Often in early versions of AI imaging software, for example, an AI app told to develop a picture of something would include extra fingers or body parts, not able to recognize what was right or wrong.)
“This is so new, we don’t yet know the boundaries or limitations,” said Doug Hamilton, president of CharlestonHacks and program architect for the Medical University of South Carolina’s Human Centered Design Innovation Lab. “What’s the most experimental version of vibe coding? We have no idea. We’re really challenging people to push it to its limits and play around with the conventional way we think about software platforms.”
Contestants at the weekend hackathon will be given several challenges across different industries. They will then form teams to create vibe-coded solutions to the chosen challenge.
“It’s up to the participants to figure out what’s going to be the most impactful or innovative use of vibe coding,” Hamilton said. “This is something that’s only recently caught fire, and now everybody is using it. We’re trying to find out the capacity of these new tools and what they’re able to do. We need to find where the edge of it is.”
Hackathons follow different formats with each contest, ranging from two-day events to month-long tech explorations. This weekend, contests will have the weekend to develop an application or web platform using vibe coding to address one of the given challenge statements.
Participants will meet at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 3 at the College of Charleston’s Harbor Walk for a panel-style interview with winners of previous Hackathons. Hamilton said he hopes this gives new participants a window into what to expect. From there, the challenges will be revealed and contestants will form their teams. Teams can begin work immediately.
The contestants reconvene at 5 p.m. Oct. 5 to present their projects to a panel of judges, the other teams and anyone else in the audience. The winning team will receive $1,000, and the runner-up will get $400.
All parts of the competition are open to the public, and anyone can compete.
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