Collins Dictionary has named “vibe coding” as its Word of the Year for 2025. It highlights the growing impact of artificial intelligence in the world of software development.
The term refers to the process of creating apps or websites simply by describing them in natural language to AI, rather than manually writing lines of code. A simple example could be asking an AI like ChatGPT or Gemini to “make me a programme that schedules my weekly gym workouts.”
However, the developers must have a solid understanding of coding fundamentals and the context of their projects to effectively guide and correct the AI-generated code.
It was popularised by former director of Tesla Andrej Karpathy. He described it as a practice where programmers “forget that the code even exists” and “go into the vibes” while developing digital platforms.
The dictionary observed a sharp rise in the usage of the term since its first appearance in February 2025. Experts believe vibe coding does not replace the developer but rather acts as a powerful productivity booster.
This term is selected from a shortlist of terms that capture the cultural and technological trends of the year. These include terms like ‘Aura farming,’ ‘Biohacking,’ ‘Glaze’, ‘Clanker’, ‘Micro-retirement’, etc. Last year’s Word of the Year was ‘Brat’, which meant “a person with a confident, independent and hedonistic attitude.”
With the recognition of this new term, the dictionary acknowledges the growing role of AI not just in technology but also in how everyday people interact with software. This makes the phenomenon as much cultural as it is technological.
