Can you create an app from AI prompt?

If you can't code, then no.

When I started coding again, my first thought was, “Hey, let’s just use AI to generate EVERYTHING for me!” So I tried and tried, again and again—briefing and explaining, drawing—and then I realized I was spending so much time trying to get what I wanted that I could have just written it myself. But the question remains: can AI write a whole app for a non-technical person?

I think that’s something for the future. For now, I’d say it can help a lot, but I wouldn’t risk creating a whole app solely with AI. It might help us create the initial structure and instruct how to do some stuff, plus it’s very helpful and can speed up writing code. But in the end—not knowing at least the basics of coding—is not a good idea. When I tried creating something entirely from AI, I found it’s great for a quick start, but the more we want, the more confused the model becomes, causing more and more problems—even basic syntax ones—not to mention more complex logical or database association issues.

Not to mention that people have to be very specific when talking to AI about creating an app. I found out that it’s much more efficient when I use tech language rather than abstracts (for example, using proper definitions for things the app should do).

So, when I see on LinkedIn that people are so excited by Claude 3.5, which can create an app from a prompt—eh, that’s just people who have never written a single line of code. Not to mention backend and frontend, frameworks, databases, and other stuff—they just see this working HTML with some CSS and JS and have the impression it’s a working thing. It’s not—it’s just a quick prototype.

I think AI could be a huge game-changer to write better code and faster. It could be a great tool to learn and understand programming. But creating an app from a prompt? It’s not there yet!