I need you to create with code(ing agents)

In 2021 I gave one of my first conference talks: I Need You to Create with Code. The talk, subtitled “Whose problem is it?”, traces my journey from learning JavaScript as an intern in 2015 to becoming a creative coder during the pandemic. This journey showed me that code was more than what I wrote every day for a tech company. That it could be a home-cooked meal, a way to share culture, or an act of resistance.

Returning to this talk five years later, I find the ask is still the same: I need you to create with code. The industry is shifting and every few weeks the models unlock new powers. The other week I built a text editor in a morning while I surfed the web. On X, others make music videos and 3D worlds, or creatively extend their tools. I am asking again because asking for what you want is a key skill for the 21st century. Today’s models let you ask different questions of software, and underneath all of the vibe coding hype is a kernel of a new world.

The subtitle, “Whose problem is it?”, referred to the middle of my career, when people stopped writing code for the community. The vibrancy of my first few years in the JavaScript community was gone as the technology standardized on a small set of best practices and frameworks. We stopped writing code to help one another, and instead debated about frameworks and mental models that would scale in the world of enterprise software. I fear the same will happen to agents and this new type of software that is being created. OpenAI has Dots, Meta has Muse, and I assume more AI assistants are on the way. These are being pitched as the entryway for the average person to use AI. Friendly interfaces that shrink our imagination of what is possible and lock-in our memories and habits onto another company’s computer. Instead, we have the opportunity to create tools and apps that are personal to each of us and our communities. Tools molded to the way we think and the needs of those closest to us.

Now is the time for reimagining our digital world. A time to ask new questions of the world around us. But to ask these questions, you have to ignore the hype. You have to seek answers and evaluate the technology for yourself. You must possess a curiosity for knowledge and a willingness to be both surprised and disappointed. Most importantly, you have to spend time and come to learn the material.

Robin Sloan’s piece outlines this process. Think about a small piece of software and try to bring it into the world with one of the latest models. This is the first step. Repeat this step and branch out into your communities. Create software for your family, your friends, your block, your union, your group chat. Create a tiny app based on an inside joke. Create a writing app tailored to how you write. Software is changing and there is finally a way for all of us to contribute and build a better ecosystem. But only if we ask for it together.

-Mello

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