--- title: "New Development Environment for Programmers Rewards Them With Brainrot When They Prompt the AI" description: "A new Y Combinator-backed startup called \"Chad\" is revolutionizing the way software engineers waste time at work." date: "2025-11-15" modified: "2025-11-15" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ycombinator-chad-brainrot-startup" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" --- # New Development Environment for Programmers Rewards Them With Brainrot When They Prompt the AI ![A new Y Combinator-backed startup called "Chad" is revolutionizing the way software engineers waste time at work.]() *Getty / Futurism* In a world beset by complex problems, the brain trust at storied startup accelerator and venture capital firm Y Combinator has put their money into a startup dedicated to feeding vibe coders a constant stream of brainrot. Called "Chad: The Brainrot IDE," the new startup is the concoction of a tech entrepreneur named Richard Wang. The pitch goes like this: when software developers use AI-enabled software development environments — software designed to support "[vibe coding]()," basically — there's usually a bit of downtime as the AI software churns out the programming Notice anything missing? That's right: there's nothing for developers to gamble on! Chad solves this. According [to *TechCrunch*](), the new vibe coding tool's entire twist is that it adds a separate window of brainrot for software developers to dink around on as the AI generates code. These include social media apps like TikTok and X-formerly-Twitter, gambling apps like Stake, and dating apps like Tinder. "AI coding creates a time span \[that\] isn't long enough to do something new, and it's not short enough to be entirely negligible," Chad's founders explain in their [launch announcement on YCombinator](). "Developers are spending time off the IDE to fill the inference time gap (usually brain-rotting on their phones)." So what's different than just using your phone to melt your brain like the rest of us? Unlike your phone, Chad "ends your brainrot session when it's time to get back to work," the founders write. Referencing an anecdotal survey, they say that early beta users saved an average of 15 minutes per hour vibe coding when they make the switch to Chad. Not everyone's sold on the concept, however. In a lengthy [post on LinkedIn](), tech investor Jordi Hays wrote that Chad takes "rage baiting" from a marketing strategy to a "product strategy." "Chad IDE’s only known differentiation from the other hundred AI native IDEs is that you can gamble and swipe on dating apps in it. The rage bait is sitting at the product level now," Hays wrote. "Rage baiting (whether at the marketing level or product level) is the most effective way to get people (who could be potential investors, customers, or team members) to actively pray for your downfall." The project demonstrates one thing for sure: in this economy, you can find funding for [just about anything](), as long as you shoehorn AI into the pitch. **More on startups:** *[AI Startup Says It Will End Crime by Blanketing the Entire United States in Ever-Watching Spy Cameras]()* ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()