How vibe coding may be ‘sidelining’ engineers at Meta’s Superintelligence Labs
Product managers at Meta’s Superintelligence Labs (MSL) are using a technique called “vibe coding” to design and prototype their own apps. With this, the product managers of the social media giant’s AI unit are bypassing traditional engineering workflows to present ideas directly to CEO Mark Zuckerberg. This approach is accelerating product exploration at the company; however, it may be ‘sidelining’ engineers who are actually tasked with developing the apps. During the TechEquity AI Summit event in Sunnyvale, California, Joseph Spisak, a product director at MSL, said (as reported by Business Insider): “PMs are actually vibe coding products, and we’re showing them to Zuckerberg and leadership, and it’s allowing us to iterate and explore the space really fast.”
What is vibe coding and what Meta executive said about it
Vibe coding is a term originating in developer communities that refers to AI-assisted coding via natural-language instructions. Spisak noted: “We can literally vibe code products in a matter of hours, days, and explore the space.”He described Meta’s internal systems as powerful enough for non-engineers to make interface adjustments, such as changing colours and ideas, on the fly.Meta is reorganising product development around AI assistants, using tools like Metamate, a ChatGPT-style bot trained on internal data, and Devmate, a coding assistant that incorporates various large language models, including those from rivals like Anthropic.Accelerating development and adopting “vibe coding” have become key goals at Meta System Labs (MSL), which the company established in June as it competes with other AI developers. A memo from late September noted that Meta’s existing systems, built for large-scale user bases and engineering teams, take “too long” to implement updates and are “not conducive to vibe coding,” making it difficult for smaller AI teams to test ideas quickly.Other tech companies are also making similar changes. Google has been urging teams to include AI at every stage of product design, and CEO Sundar Pichai said last year that over a quarter of Google’s code is now generated by AI before being reviewed by humans. At Microsoft, an internal memo obtained by Business Insider stated, “using AI is no longer optional.”Meta is also advancing its internal AI adoption. The company tracks how employees use AI through internal dashboards, sets usage targets, and even runs a game called Level Up that rewards employees who meet AI-related milestones, according to another Business Insider report.“Vibe coding” has also become a desired skill in hiring across the tech sector. Companies such as Reddit and DoorDash list experience with AI coding tools like Cursor and Bolt as a preferred skill. At the same time, one Y Combinator startup describes a “vibe coding” approach as “non-negotiable” for recruits.“We are getting to the point where the barriers are really low right now,” Spisak told the audience, explaining that even his 11-year-old daughter now ‘vibe codes’ new environments to play in Roblox.“This is what I tell PMs at Meta and other places where I mentor PMs. Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty,” Spisak added.
