A Patagonia vest is to a finance bro as a cracked laptop is to an AI-agent power user.
The new calling card for AI coders is someone who won’t shut their laptop, even if it makes them look a bit silly.
From airports to high school hallways to ice rinks, people are leaving their laptops at least slightly open to keep their coding agents running. BI’s Henry Chandonnet spoke to these coders about their dedication to the AI agent game and the funny interactions they’ve had as a result.
Their approaches may differ — some keep the screen wide open while others just leave a finger in between — but the result is the same: if it’s cracked, they’re cooking.
That’s not to say their dedication doesn’t come with a bit of embarrassment.
“I think people think I’m whatever the equivalent of an iPad kid is for a middle-aged woman,” one AI user told Henry.
I can almost hear some of you screaming: You can set up your computer to keep running when the screen is closed!
We got plenty of comments on Henry’s story making that exact point. (Yes, you can comment on our stories. Yes, we actually read them.)
The “well, actually” crowd isn’t wrong. There are a number of ways to do this, from changing your computer’s settings to downloading a slew of third-party software. Henry breaks down all the methods here.
Some of the comments were genuinely highlighting this trick. Others, however, came off a bit more aggressive…
“Seriously?! It’s a simple setting, power options generally, to keep it running and not shut down when closed. Coders?! These aren’t engineers,” one commenter wrote.
But isn’t that the point? The AI revolution has largely been about empowering non-technical people to code. And now that they’re here, they might do things a bit differently.
Getting upset over that is like being a fan of an indie band that suddenly makes it big and criticizing the newcomers for not knowing the B-side tracks.
In the spirit of the band analogy, coding is having its Billboard moment. Vibe-coding tools have turned it mainstream, and there’s no going back.
Does that mean people might not follow old-school coding etiquette? Sure, but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong. (If you have some quirky behaviors around AI tools, or have noticed some, let us know.)
And who knows, maybe you’ll learn a thing or two from them.
