This is quite interesting. Apple’s official apps were found to contain bundled Claude.md files—essentially traces of AI-generated code. Honestly, my first reaction to this news was: Even a company like Apple is secretly using AI to assist with programming?

Big Tech Is Embracing Vibe Coding Too
Vibe Coding (AI-assisted programming) used to feel like a hack for small teams racing against deadlines. Now that top-tier tech companies like Apple have been caught red-handed using it, it’s clear AI-generated code has become a mainstream productivity tool. Think about it: If Siri can help you book a restaurant, why shouldn’t programmers use AI as an assistant? The most surreal part, though, is how this was exposed—through a “mistakenly bundled file” blunder. Tim Cook, what happened to your “detail-obsessed” persona?

Who Wrote the Code? Clarity Matters
Using AI to generate code isn’t the issue, but relying on an undisclosed Claude Code tool raises questions. Three problems are unavoidable:

  1. Who owns the copyright of the generated code?
  2. If the AI writes buggy code, who’s liable?
  3. Do users know the apps they’re using were developed with AI assistance?
    Big companies playing in these gray zones honestly leaves a bad taste. If a startup pulled this, they’d be slammed for “lacking integrity.”

Why the Extra Sensitivity in the Chinese Tech Community?
The reaction among Chinese developers has been particularly anxious. The core sentiment boils down to: “Apple’s already using Claude, while we’re still grinding away with 996 manual labor?” This response is telling—
• Overseas giants are already integrating AI into production pipelines
• Meanwhile, domestically, we’re still debating whether “using AI counts as cheating”
The hardest pill to swallow? For them, AI is about efficiency gains; for us, it might mean jumping through “code compliance review” hoops first. The tech gap isn’t the scary part—the mindset gap is.

(One final snarky note: The most baffling part of Apple’s move is that they could’ve just proudly announced, “We use AI to boost development efficiency,” but instead, it came out as an accidental leak. This PR strategy—did they take lessons from Tesla?)