AI now writes code for us, and even helps write books. Turning what's in your head into something real has never been this easy. But there's one crucial question missing.
Who's going to move into the building you just built?
The Trap of Vibe Coding: Fast Construction, High Vacancy
Vibe coding is a development approach where a programmer gives an AI natural-language instructions, and the AI handles everything from writing the code to deploying it. It's like an architect sketching a blueprint and having a robot build the entire structure.
The problem lies in the internal structure of what gets built this way. How are the pipes connected? Is the wiring safe? Has the structural integrity been verified? Most developers can't check any of this themselves.
There's an even bigger problem. Constructing the building becomes the goal in itself. Does it mean anything to put up 100 buildings that are each 50% vacant? A building with no tenants is just a ruin.
The Same Pattern Repeats in Publishing
The same phenomenon shows up in publishing. With AI now assisting with writing, "vibe publishing" has become possible. An author's idea can be turned into a book in no time.
But the same question comes up here too. Who's going to read that book?
If an author only wants to organize their own thoughts without keeping readers in mind, that book is no different from a high-vacancy building. It won't sell in bookstores, won't reach readers, and will end up gathering dust in a warehouse.
Time Is Still Limited
Here lies the paradox of the AI era. Our capacity to build has exploded, but we still only have 24 hours in a day.
The time spent figuring out how to use what you've built now matters more than the time spent deciding what to build. If you've gained the almost magical ability to put up and tear down a building overnight, you now need to carefully design who will move in, and whether things will actually run smoothly once they do.
For developers, that means thinking about user experience before feature implementation. For writers, it means thinking about the connection with readers before the writing itself.
Design the Use Case First
No matter how fast AI generates content, a planner still needs to choose the topic, define the readership, and design how the content will be used—before anything else.
A book isn't just a tool for organizing an author's thoughts. It's a structure that changes readers' lives. Publishing only becomes meaningful when you first picture who will live in that building, and what kind of life they'll lead there.
The new competitive edge in the AI era isn't speed of construction—it's the wisdom to make use of what's built. That is, the ability to design and deliver a building with zero vacancy.
