The Price of Vibe Coding

Savva Molotkov — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 20:10:31 +0000

I see two main ways developers use AI at work:

• ChatGPT / DeepSeek
• AI-powered IDEs like Cursor

Cursor is very convenient. You can give it project context, work with existing code, and even generate solutions around Unity objects and components. For small tasks or isolated features, it can be genuinely useful.

One developer on my team uses it every day and closes nearly three times more tasks than the average team member. At first glance, that sounds impressive.

But after reviewing the code, the trade-off became obvious.

The speed came with a cost:
• weak architectural decisions
• avoidable performance issues
• new bugs in complex systems
• code that became harder to read and maintain

In my opinion, the main problem with vibe coding is not AI itself. The real problem is using it without fully understanding how the solution actually works.

Yes, it can help close tasks faster in the short term. But in production teams, speed alone is not enough. If the implementation introduces technical debt, hidden side effects, or scaling problems, the team will pay for that speed later.

That is why I think vibe coding works best on simpler, low-risk tasks, where mistakes do not affect the whole system.

In our case, the most practical decision was to give that developer easier and more isolated tasks. That allowed the team to benefit from higher execution speed without creating unnecessary risk in critical parts of the project.

DEV Community: Savva Molotkov

The Price of Vibe Coding