Simon Willison: Vibe Coding and Agentic Engineering Are Getting Closer Than I'd Like

Summary

Simon Willison, a prominent AI practitioner and creator of Datasette, published a critical analysis on May 6 arguing that the conceptual boundary between "vibe coding"—uncritical AI code generation without review—and professional "agentic engineering" is collapsing in practice. His central observation: as AI coding tools become more reliable, even experienced engineers skip the code review step, creating a professional accountability gap the industry hasn't acknowledged or addressed. Willison a