The use of large language models (“LLMs”) has exploded in recent years, including in the generation of source code. But even as their usage gains popularit...
That’s really going to depend on how strictly you define “vibe coded”. If that means that someone put in a single prompt and the LLM spit out an entire program, then yes, I doubt that would be copyrightable.
However, if the person “vibe coding” does understand how to program, and they use multiple prompts and organize the code to make a working product, then the code could be copyrightable by compilation:
That’s a real big ‘if’. Someone who understands and shapes the code isn’t really vibe coding. I might still not agree with what they’re doing, but it’s not vibe coding if they can take responsibility for every line of code produced.
That’s really going to depend on how strictly you define “vibe coded”. If that means that someone put in a single prompt and the LLM spit out an entire program, then yes, I doubt that would be copyrightable.
However, if the person “vibe coding” does understand how to program, and they use multiple prompts and organize the code to make a working product, then the code could be copyrightable by compilation:
https://www.copyright.gov/ai/Copyright-and-Artificial-Intelligence-Part-2-Copyrightability-Report.pdf
That’s a real big ‘if’. Someone who understands and shapes the code isn’t really vibe coding. I might still not agree with what they’re doing, but it’s not vibe coding if they can take responsibility for every line of code produced.