OpenAI co-founder Andrej Karpathy says the future of AI coding is something he calls ‘agentic engineering.’ The idea comes just one year after another popular term, ‘vibe coding,’ emerged. Vibe coding is a way of working where humans guide AI tools with prompts, and the AI helps write the code. On the other hand, Karpathy says agentic engineering is when AI agents write the code themselves.
‘Many people have tried to come up with a better name for this to differentiate it from vibe coding, personally, my current favorite is ‘agentic engineering,’ he wrote in a recent X post.
Also read: Apple iOS 26.4 beta may release this month with smarter Siri: Check details
According to Karpathy, the name matters because this approach is not just about automation. He explained that he calls it agentic engineering not only because agents write the code, but because ‘there is an art & science and expertise to it.’
Vibe coding has emerged as one of the most significant breakthroughs of the AI era. Leading CEOs and startup founders are promoting its adoption within their teams, while billions of dollars are poured into companies built around this new approach, reports Business Insider.
Also read: Tim Cook discusses AI, succession and Apple’s 50th anniversary at meeting: Here’s what he said
Vibe coding is also changing how engineers feel about their jobs. In a Business Insider survey of 167 software engineers, 75 said they were ‘keeping up’ with the changes. Another 30 felt ahead of the curve, while 27 said they felt behind.
For those unaware, Karpathy helped found OpenAI in 2015, before rivals like Anthropic and xAI existed. Later, he led Tesla’s Autopilot AI efforts. Now, he is building Eureka Labs, which aims to build a ‘new kind of school that is AI native.’
Also read: Anthropic mocks OpenAI’s idea of bringing ads to ChatGPT, Sam Altman responds