Before You “Build It in an Hour” with AI, Read This

I was recently looking for an app to annotate screenshots directly, without the hassle of saving and exporting them. I asked a colleague if he knew of a free tool that could do this. He said no, then posed a question that’s becoming increasingly common: “Why not just make one with AI?”

That line of thinking is no longer an exception; many of us could probably build an app faster than we could search for one. Having worked with this tech for years, I know it’s possible to create a solution in under an hour.

After a second thought, I realized: that’s a bad idea.

In this post, as a software architect, I’ll explain for non-tech folks why you should think twice before developing an app with AI instead of downloading or buying an existing one.

The biggest risk isn’t ignorance—it’s the illusion of competence: not knowing that you don’t know.

The Rise of “Vibe Coding”

Vibe coding: building software primarily by describing what you want to an AI, with minimal hands-on coding.

With today’s tools, creating an application with almost zero coding is real. It’s a huge democratization of software creation. A recent YouTube slogan put it bluntly: “Let your dream become a reality right now.” The only skill you need is articulating your idea.