This "vibe coding" seems just another way to say that people spend more time refining the output of these tools over and over again that what they would normally code.
But there's going to be an inflection point - soon - as things continue to improve. The industry is going to change rapidly.
Now is the time to either get ready for that - by being ahead of the curve, at least by being familiar with the tooling - or switch careers and cede your job to somebody who will play ball.
I don't like any of this, but I see it as inevitable.
Clearly they do work in a general sense. People who don't want to code are making things that work this way right now!
This isn't yet replacing me, but I'm certain it will relatively soon be the standard for how software is developed.
I hate AI code assistants, not because they suck, but because they work. The writing is on the wall.
If we aren't working on our own replacements, we'll be the ones replaced by somebody else's vibe code, and we have no labor unions that could plausibly fight back against this.
So become a Vibe Coder and keep working, or take the "prudent" approach you mention - and become unemployed.