Goalposts

Hacker News has set AI a lot of challenges over the years. Which ones has it met?

2026 Mayd1l

About why there are no vibecoded Photoshop-scale apps despite AI coding tools.

I didn’t follow the article’s thesis. It felt written from a defensive crouch and claimed not to be punching down but it seemed to be radiating hostility the entire time. Something about vibe coding only replaces the lowest level of mechanical work involved in creative pursuits (including coding)?

I’m not a booster a doomer or a boomer but I think it’s a reasonable litmus test for LLM coding to implement 80% of an existing app or service. It’s not an accusation against anyone using LLM (I do) nor is it an excuse to take shots, it’s just a way of framing SotA capabilities.

Weird article, perhaps I missed something.

AI coding tools implement 80% of an existing app or service.

Has this happened?

Yes 93 (73%)Not sure 16 (12%)No 19 (15%)

Votes cast 1–2 October 2026: 100,590 votes from 9,694 people.