A long-time Emacs maintainer and contributor reflects on what the AI coding revolution means for Emacs and Vim. The piece examines real risks: VS Code and purpose-built AI editors like Cursor and Windsurf attracting developers away, the reduced value of mechanical editing speed when AI writes most code, and the corporate funding gap. But it also identifies genuine opportunities: AI dramatically lowers the barrier to writing Elisp, VimScript, and Lua, accelerating plugin development; terminal-native AI tools like Claude Code and Aider compose naturally with both editors; and Emacs's 'editor as OS' architecture is uniquely suited to cross-domain AI integration. The author also covers existing AI plugins for both ecosystems, ethical concerns around energy use and copyright, and the EVi fork created specifically to exclude AI-generated code. The conclusion is cautiously optimistic: both editors have survived decades of 'dying' predictions, and their core value proposition—maximum workflow control—remains relevant even as the editor's role shifts from writing code to reviewing and steering AI output.
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