Epic Games Previews New AI-Assisted Launcher Faster Than Steam
Epic Games has released a preview version of its redesigned launcher app built using AI-assisted programming, which the company claims is faster than Steam. However, Epic has openly warned users that the new preview software will contain some bugs. This release highlights a shifting trend in the software industry toward AI-driven development practices for major commercial applications. It signals how large companies are beginning to experiment with unconventional, high-speed coding methods to overhaul core products. The new application relies heavily on 'vibe-coding', a methodology where developers generate source code using large language models instead of writing it traditionally. Despite performance improvements, Epic explicitly cautions that the preview build is unstable and incomplete.
## BACKGROUND
Vibe coding is a software development practice assisted by artificial intelligence where developers describe tasks in natural language to a large language model that automatically generates the source code. Coined in February 2025 by computer scientist Andrej Karpathy, the approach allows people to guide software creation primarily through results and follow-up prompts while often forgoing traditional code reviews. While advocates praise its speed and accessibility, critics warn about potential risks regarding code maintainability and security vulnerabilities.