Non-programmers adopt Vibe coding to solve everyday problems

Every time I see someone open ChatGPT on the subway or the supermarket, I feel a twinge of fear. Indeed, our basic questions can be answered with a little thought and searching to find information that can be critically evaluated.

Most evidence suggests that I’m simply behind the times. About one-third of Americans interact with AI several times a week. A lot of people I respect are using AI in cool and interesting ways, and basic AI usage is becoming a reality.

I had the same skepticism when I was assigned to work on a project on the rise of vibe coding, where non-coders use AI programs to create apps. What I found instead was a group of vibecoders of all ages and walks of life having a quirky and fun time, and a vision for how AI can meaningfully improve the lives of ordinary people. Vibe coding was more reminiscent of Tumblr custom theme coding than the causes of brain rot or all-conquering visions of a new economic world order. This is a type of technology that is useful to the average person.

Shayan Mirzazadeh failed computer science twice in college. Ten years later, the 31-year-old account manager is developing vibe-coding solutions that solve pain points at work and home, like an app that helps her fiance track her Pilates routine. Mirzazadeh’s colleague Jane Ingram Roberts, another Vibecoding “sidequest star,” came up with a fantasy league-style app for the TV show “Big Brother.” Their biggest and latest project is a website for creating wedding seating charts called Seatbee. That’s something Ingram Roberts struggled with two years ago when planning her own wedding.

Users can enter rules regarding who should and should not sit next to each other. “It’s really important that all of your work friends sit together, or your sister and your drunk uncle on the other side of the room,” Ingram-Roberts says. Once you have entered your rules, click Generate and your seating chart will appear. The two say the website already has more than 200 users.

Wedding seating charts may sound pretty specific, but they illustrate the larger reality of vibe coding. These AI enthusiasts aren’t developing technology that will blow up the world. They are creating apps for very specific or singular purposes. As with many hobbies, most people are willing to lose money. They really work to have fun.

Vibe coding vibe shift

The Vibe Shift in Vibe Coding began in November 2025, said Paul Ford, a longtime programmer and writer. Up until that point, AI may have been able to create web pages, but the quality was hit or miss. It’s not always possible to debug automatically along the way. AI programmers still needed manual labor. The tipping point occurred when the model became able to write code, run it, identify bugs, and debug it all on its own, allowing it to complete its own tasks. This has further accelerated as major AI companies, such as Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.5, Google’s Gemini 3, and OpenAI’s GPT-5.1, have introduced coding-focused models.

This opened up a whole new world. In an AI-generated essay or photo, unlike analyzing em-dash usage or looking at the number of fingers on a computer-generated hand, vibecoding either works or it doesn’t. The AI ​​will output a working program or go back and try again.

“It’s really a baseline that doesn’t exist when you’re creating prose or art,” Ford says. “When it came to coding, I was like, no, this actually works. The computer doesn’t care if it doesn’t work or not, it does it.”

And unlike the use of run-of-the-mill chatbots, which can worsen long-term critical thinking or de-skill workers who use chatbots to get through their day, vibecoders aren’t using AI as a one-to-one replacement for their brains. Instead, they’re using it to do things they couldn’t do otherwise, and they’re learning skills in the process. One study on vibecoding compares the process to making pottery. The manipulation of materials, whether clay or cord, is “inseparable from the development of the potter’s thoughts, skills and intentions.” Rather than just asking a chatbot for a perfectly formed pot, using an AI model to iterate through code is akin to guiding a robot’s hand as it molds clay, learning when to stop and when to make adjustments.

Vibe programmers interviewed by Business Insider said they learned new coding languages, processes for getting apps up and running, and what it’s like to debug. Jonathan Butler, a 56-year-old entrepreneur and Vibe programmer who relied on others to build his website, likened it to another craft. “It’s like building something in a wood shop,” he says. His latest project is vibecoding the construction management process for new homes.

But the ultra-niche nature of vibe coding, and the doors it opens, are part of what makes it exciting. Enterprise apps are always looking to scale, creating blunt measures by adding features that can turn users off or putting their favorite widgets behind a paywall. Vibe coding does the opposite. Instead of starting with a big problem and narrowing it down to one solution, start with one small problem and come up with a well-scaled solution.

Software engineers Maya Miller, 28, and Chloe Garden, 29, run SiSTEM Collective, a New York-based group for Black and Latinx women working in the technology industry. Part of the group focuses on community-building workshops for non-tech savvy people. A recent workshop focused on vibe coding, with women coming in with app ideas and coming away with working prototypes. There were about 30 participants, of whom about 5 were complete amateurs, and about a quarter had never delved into the essentials. For beginners and those with a little more experience, vibe coding has made it possible to address very specific problems faced in everyday life.

“We had two people working on their hair wash routines, so it was just a matter of tracking whether the products were actually helping their hair goals, whether they wanted to increase the length of their hair or increase the elasticity of their hair,” Miller said. “I think this is a really good example of bespoke software that we didn’t really have access to.”

This is a hypothetical version of finally fixing a sink that was leaking or setting up a system for who feeds the cat so it won’t be tricked into getting a second dinner. Thanks to the Vibe coding tool, people like Scott Klipper can now book a one-time nanny to pick him up from school. Firefighter Joe Poynton was also able to save time at the grocery store by using lists that categorized items by location. This is (sort of) bringing software to the masses. If you get hooked, you might pick up some real coding hacks and learn more over time. But it is more important to intervene to solve small everyday problems. It won’t clean your house or completely automate your life, but it will tell you when it’s a good day to wash your hair based on your workout or brunch plans.

VVibe coding does not magically solve the structural and social problems associated with the AI ​​boom. But it gives a real world example of how it works for the average person. People can solve the problem themselves, or at least create microapps that aren’t suddenly powered by new paywalls or bloated features.

After talking to vibe coders and AI enthusiasts, what struck me was their love for the game. Vibe’s programmers aren’t trying to dominate the app store or become millionaires. They’re not creating a never-ending customer service bot loop designed to annoy you and extract your money. They literally do it for the atmosphere. This reminds me a bit of the old web. A more decentralized and bespoke version of the internet. There, they were creating programs that specialized in sending the word “Yo” to friends and “drinking” virtual beers.

Kyle Jensen, a developer and director of the Entrepreneurship Program at Yale School of Management, recently vibecoded an SAT prep app for his kids, created a research app for his wife, and a search app for his co-workers. He’s seen a “massive explosion” of interest in vibecoding within his circle — a circle that is clearly made up of people who study business or are similarly aligned with the software world. Still, he says there are all kinds of services that can help more amateurs embrace the vibe coding revolution.

“This probably points to a future where ordinary people adopt apps on a fairly regular basis,” Jensen said.

It’s all about threading the AI ​​needle. Ford, a programmer and writer, sees vibecoding as a way to give the general public more control over AI, people who don’t want to talk to robots all day long but actually want to build something or get work done.

To conclude this story, I decided to try my hand at vibe coding. I wanted to solve a unique challenge in New York City. There are two grocery stores within walking distance, but one is up a fairly steep hill. I wanted to compare the weekly trading of these two companies so that I could make an informed decision about when to step uphill.

What I learned is that scraping weekly circular PDFs is still very difficult (grocery stores are mistakenly AI-resistant). However, I learned a lot about how scraping works and how system code can be used to decode information from old supermarket sites. And as an AI researcher, I’ve learned a lot about effective prompts. I started by treating Codex like a fellow reporter or editor brainstorming an app, but unfortunately Codex couldn’t understand that level of nuance. Throughout the practice, I had to think critically about what exactly I wanted. Being able to rely on the unique folds of my brain was a victory. Yes, I remember the time I took a crash course in HTML to turn the cursor on a Tumblr page into a glittery donut. Was it necessary? Of course not, but it added to the quirkiness.

As it turned out, my app wasn’t as successful as I had hoped. In the end, I lost out to the PDF circular, but like any good tech founder, I pivoted. I created an app that weighs whether a deal is worth the extra walk to buy an item at a highland supermarket. Isn’t this a bit ridiculous? Yes, and if I tell you about this, I’m sure many loved ones will ridicule me. Will you use it? absolutely. Discounted Mozzarella and I’ll be laughing all the way down the hill.

juliana kaplan She’s a senior reporter on the economics team, covering the workforce, table economics and the people behind the numbers.