this post was submitted on 29 May 2026
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No. Copypasting pieces of existing code has been standard practice for human programmers since the beginning of programming. Deciding to call it "plagiarism" because it's been automated is just ignorant.
literally the definition of it
Only to an outsider. Starting with an example and modifying it is a very standard, time-honored programming practice that has never been demonized that I know of. In fact it's the norm for many contractors, who get paid for fast turnover and hugely benefit from taking an existing web page, module, etc. that's similar to their goal and changing it, rather than starting from scratch. The idea isn't to take credit, it's to get the work done.
When you copy/paste a piece of code and somebody asks you "Hey this code is pretty awesome how did you write it?", you usually say "No I didn't write it, I just grabbed it from a site."
Vibe coders on the other hand will actively tell you that they wrote it themselves when they actually used an AI. THAT is the difference.
Ai is just middle manager of plaigerism. it learned to code from other people. the vibe coder is just claiming ownership over stolen goods.
I learned to code from other people too. Everybody learns to do everything from other people. Making that an argument against AI is just silly. That's my main problem with AI hate - it demonizes practices that are perfectly acceptable when we do them without using AI. A lot of it is also misdirected - for example, AI doesn't fire people, clueless managers fire people because they stupidly think AI is their ticket to career advancement. It's like blaming a saw for cutting in the wrong place. AI hate is really the hollowest, emptiest crusade I've ever seen. The only valid arguments I know of are about the excessive resources it uses - which is true of a lot of other things (golf courses in the desert for example). But to me the ethical passion just feels manufactured, as if people desperately need one more thing to hate.
The one vibe coder I know actively talks about specific things he has it do and how much time it saves him.