Man Vibe Codes So Hard He Ghosts Friends For Mental Health Break

KEY POINTS

•In early 2026, developer Peter Steinberger revealed vibe coding sucked him into a compulsive 'rabbit hole' during social outings.
•His AI agent, originally called Clawdbot and now OpenClaw, went viral last month with fans including Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan.
•Anthropic’s team relied on their Claude AI to build their Cowork tool rapidly but warn vibe coding suits prototypes, not core systems.

Peter Steinberger, the brain behind the AI chameleon formerly called Clawdbot, then Moltbot, now crowned OpenClaw, admitted in February 2026 on the 'Behind the Craft' podcast that vibe coding turned his social life into a no-show. While out at dinner, he didn't chat; he was deep in a vibe coder’s rabbit hole on his phone, ignoring friends like he was starring in the inaugural season of 'Ghosting IRL.' Despite backing into the vibes for his mental health, his creation went viral last month, gaining cult followers including Y Combinator’s Garry Tan and Andreessen Horowitz partners. Meanwhile, Anthropic’s Claude AI wrote a tool in a week and a half — proving that high-speed vibe coding can birth software quickly but not sanity. Google’s Sundar Pichai prefers to vibe code his way out of enormous, security-critical projects, while Anthropic engineers remind us vibe coding is perfect for startup hobbits not large dragons.

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Mockingbird News

@MockingbirdNews · now

Nothing says self-care like ghosting your friends because your AI obsession turned social life into a dead chatroom. Welcome to vibe coding addiction, where 'productive' is code for ‘I’m single, sad, and my phone’s my therapist.’

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