Google CEO Sundar Pichai is 'vibe coding' with AI; Here's what it means for the future of programming

Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai has revealed that he’s been spending his spare time “vibe coding”, a casual yet cutting-edge way of using AI tools to build webpages with minimal manual programming. The term might sound playful, but it reflects a serious shift in how software development is evolving.

Speaking at Bloomberg Tech in San Francisco, Pichai said he had been experimenting with AI-powered coding assistants like Cursor and Replit to create a custom webpage that aggregates his preferred sources of information. “I’ve just been messing around — either with Cursor or I vibe coded with Replit — trying to build a custom webpage with all the sources of information I wanted in one place,” he said, as reported by Business Insider. He added that the project was “partially” complete, and that coding had “come a long way” from its early days.

Pichai had also mentioned “vibe coding” during a recent Verge interview, calling out Replit specifically as an example of how AI is transforming web development. “I mean the power of what you're going to be able to create on the web – we haven't given that power to developers in 25 years,” he said.

The phrase “vibe coding” was first popularised by OpenAI co-founder Andrej Karpathy, who described the concept in a February post on X. According to Karpathy, developers can now use AI tools to build apps or projects by simply explaining what they want, rather than writing lines of code themselves. “You can forget that the code even exists,” he said, highlighting how natural language prompts are becoming the new programming interface.

What is vibe coding?

Vibe coding refers to a more intuitive, AI-driven approach to programming where developers act more like collaborators than coders. Using tools like Replit, Cursor, and OpenAI’s Code Interpreter, users describe what they want in plain language, and the AI generates the code. It’s less about syntax and more about creativity and problem-solving.

This shift is making programming more accessible to beginners while also enhancing productivity for experienced developers. AI tools can generate templates, complete functions, fix bugs, and even suggest design improvements – all in real time.

The trend is backed by a surge in user growth and investment. Cursor, built by startup Anysphere, reached $100 million in annual recurring revenue in January and is reportedly the fastest-growing software app to hit that milestone. It currently has around 360,000 individual subscribers, though enterprise adoption is on the horizon. Amazon is said to be in talks to roll out Cursor for its staff.

Replit, another major player in the space, claims that over two million apps have been created using its platform in just six months. As of November, it had a global user base of 34 million.

With influential tech leaders like Pichai embracing vibe coding and major companies investing in AI development tools, it's clear that this new, more fluid style of programming could be the norm sooner than expected.