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Max Levchin, PayPal cofounder and CEO of Affirm, isn\u2019t worried about companies like DoorDash. In his view, businesses rooted in complex logistics and real-world operations are \u201cactually quite safe\u201d from being swept away by the rise of vibe coding \u2014 the new wave of using AI to build apps from plain-English prompts.<\/p>\n
Levchin, who now leads the $19.9 billion<\/a> buy now, pay later fintech startup Affirm, told the Sourcery<\/a> podcast earlier this week that AI could wipe out some companies that make software.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bar for quality of software is going up rapidly,\u201d Levchin explained. If a piece of software \u201ckind of sucks\u201d and \u201chas a bad interface,\u201d companies can easily build a better version themselves using AI coding tools, he said. In other words, companies are vibe coding to replace poorly working apps and tools with their own versions, potentially putting some firms out of business. <\/p>\n \u201cI think companies that have built software and just sell that software are very vulnerable,\u201d Levchin said. \u201cIf you really hate some piece of software that you\u2019re using and the software doesn\u2019t have some deep sort of proprietary data, proprietary source of value, it will get replaced. There\u2019s no reason why not.\u201d<\/p>\n In that disruptive landscape, delivery apps like DoorDash stand out, he said. DoorDash employees have called every restaurant, negotiated with owners and extracted menus, all to create a seamless food delivery experience. DoorDash depends on real-world logistics, integrations and relationships \u2014 it\u2019s not just an app.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBy way of having a great app, it\u2019s important because it integrates with all your favorite restaurants,\u201d Levchin said. \u201cI think DoorDash is actually quite safe in their business.\u201d<\/p>\n Levchin\u2019s remarks come amid fresh debate over the future of software. Tech stocks recently took a beating in what some are calling the \u201csoftware apocalypse<\/a>.\u201d The sell-off began in early February, when cautious investors grew alarmed by Anthropic\u2019s new AI tool \u2014 a system capable of handling a wide range of clerical tasks for legal professionals. The tool suggested that AI was moving beyond routine data processing and into specialized domains, per Business Insider.<\/a> It also indicated that Anthropic was taking aim at the legal software market. <\/p>\n Since then, shares of major software players like Salesforce, Snowflake, and Microsoft have fallen between 18% and 38% this year amid mounting concerns that companies could use AI to develop their own software tools instead of buying theirs, per Business Insider<\/a>.\u00a0The selloff wiped out nearly $1 trillion from software and services stocks, per Reuters<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n On the podcast, Levchin described how he now vibe codes by prompting Anthropic\u2019s Claude to write code for him. Despite his reliance on AI coding tools, the CEO, who majored in computer science<\/a> in college at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, said learning to code is still essential for software engineering. He called writing code \u201can art form\u201d and noted that \u201csome code is more elegant than others.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a matter of taste and elegance in programming,\u201d he said. \u201cYou still need some degree of taste\u2026 to steer [AI] towards the right outcome. And for that, you have to understand what you\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Max Levchin, PayPal cofounder and CEO of Affirm, isn\u2019t worried about companies like DoorDash. In his view, businesses rooted in complex logistics and real-world operations are \u201cactually quite safe\u201d from being swept away by the rise of vibe coding \u2014 the new wave of using AI to build apps from plain-English prompts.<\/p>\n Levchin, who now leads the $19.9 billion<\/a> buy now, pay later fintech startup Affirm, told the Sourcery<\/a> podcast earlier this week that AI could wipe out some companies that make software.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bar for quality of software is going up rapidly,\u201d Levchin explained. If a piece of software \u201ckind of sucks\u201d and \u201chas a bad interface,\u201d companies can easily build a better version themselves using AI coding tools, he said. In other words, companies are vibe coding to replace poorly working apps and tools with their own versions, potentially putting some firms out of business. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nA software apocalypse<\/h2>\n
It\u2019s still important to learn how to code<\/h2>\n
Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n
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