Vibe coding has broken free of tech circles to claim Collins Dictionary's Word of the Year 2025 — a choice that may prompt developers to ask: what could possibly go wrong?
Technically two words — yes we know — it’s the compound verb Collins says describes as the “use of artificial intelligence prompted by natural language to assist with the writing of computer code”.
"Tired of wrestling with syntax? Just go with the vibes. That’s the essence of vibe coding," Collins writes in a blog post published today.
We at Vulture Central do not stand reassured.
Collins attributes the moniker to Andrej Karpathy, a director of AI at Tesla and former OpenAI researcher. He said vibe coding is "fully giv[ing] in to the vibes, embrac[ing] exponentials, and forget[ting] that the code even exists." That might be ok for someone who knows how to code, but is, perhaps, a little risky for the enthusiastic amateur.
“While tech experts debate whether it’s revolutionary or reckless, the term has resonated far beyond Silicon Valley, speaking to a broader cultural shift towards AI-assisted everything in everyday life,” Collins adds.
Although vibe coding might sound appealing and lower barriers to an erstwhile exclusive domain, it has frightening implications for the rest of tech. Vibe coders might describe an app they want to build, oblivious that it requires database infrastructure they've never heard of — creating demand for new types of automation to fill the gaps.
The Reg has seen vibe coding platforms pop up everywhere. Some among them promise that "anyone can go from idea to deployed app with UI, content, backend and logic included." JetBrains and AWS have now launched vibe coding tools. Application vendors are getting in on the act too: Salesforce recently launched Agentforce Vibes, a new AI-assisted IDE for building apps on its platform.
But it is early days. After getting hands-on with some vibe coding tools, The Reg suggests caution: over-promising appears to be the norm. With some heralding the arrival of a new era in tech, we might want to have a word. ®
Source: The register