Minecraft's reclusive billionaire creator has gone from ‘reject AI’ to vibe coding: 'Time to eat some crow'

Minecraft creator Markus Persson asked: "Can I still make fun of vibe coders if I become one?" Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images Minecraft creator Markus Persson said AI coding advocates were "incompetent or evil" in January.

By July, he was trying out coding with AI — and had found use cases.

By August, he said it might be time to "eat some crow." Markus Persson is an AI convert.

The billionaire creator of Minecraft , who's commonly known as "Notch," was once fiercely opposed to using AI for coding.

In January, he wrote that it was "an incredibly bad idea still, and anyone advocating for it is either incompetent or evil." Coding was about "logic," not about "typing," Persson wrote.

Then, in April, he responded after someone hacked Mojang Studios cofounder Jakob Porsér's X account.

Mojang runs Minecraft and was acquired by Microsoft for $2.5 billion in 2014.

Porsér's hacked account was defending AI coding.

"This is further evidence that the AI programming hype is being falsely inflated by people who desperately want to change the narrative," Persson wrote.

On July 14, he was firm: "Reject AI." Persson wasn't alone in his hatred of AI.

Many programmers are nervous about the job impacts of AI or frustrated with how AI has changed their roles .

Some are burning out from long days of vibe coding.

Others are excited about developments in AI coding — a position Persson eventually took up.

On July 21, he wrote that he "just might give vibe coding a shot." "I've been having a lot of trouble hiring talented programmers, and I'll probably feel less bad about firing a chat bot," Persson wrote.