Forget the traditional days of coding line by line—Andrew Ng, the co-founder of Google Brain and one of AI’s most influential figures, says that era is officially over. Speaking at Snowflake’s “Build” conference, Ng declared that artificial intelligence has completely redefined how people should approach programming. The new era, he said, belongs to vibe coding—a more intuitive, AI-driven way to build software.

“The bar to coding is now lower than it ever has been,” Ng told the audience. “People that code, be it CEOs and marketers, recruiters, not just software engineers, will really get more done than ones that don’t.”

Ng described this as an “extraordinary moment” for creators across industries. With AI-assisted development tools now widely available, anyone can turn ideas into working applications in record time. “It’s a wonderful time to build something you’re passionate about,” he said. “Don’t code by hand. Don’t do the old way. Get AI to help you code, and that will make people in all job functions much more productive and have more fun.”

The concept of vibe coding is quickly taking hold in Silicon Valley. It refers to using AI copilots like Cursor, Replit, or Bolt to write, debug, and deploy code through natural language prompts. Rather than manually typing syntax, users simply describe what they want, and the AI generates the code, effectively lowering the barrier to entry for software creation.

Ng views this transformation as not only a productivity boost but a cultural shift. “Even I can’t hire enough people that really know AI,” he admitted, emphasizing that universities have been slow to adapt. “Computer science majors are seeing an uptick in unemployment because the curricula haven’t evolved fast enough for AI coding.”

This evolution signals a major shift in the job market. Professionals who learn to collaborate with AI tools—rather than resist them—are likely to have a significant advantage.

Other tech leaders share Ng’s enthusiasm. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has described vibe coding as the foundation of a new “human–digital workforce revolution.” He predicts that future workplaces will merge human employees with AI-powered assistants built on platforms like OpenAI, Replit, and Lovable.

The trend is also catching on outside the tech world. Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski, who doesn’t have a technical background, said tools like Cursor have completely changed how he experiments with product ideas. “Rather than disturbing my poor engineers and product people with what is half good ideas and half bad ideas, now I test it myself,” he explained.

Large corporations have noticed the shift, too. Business Insider reports that companies including Visa, Reddit, and DoorDash are now listing “vibe coding experience” as a preferred skill in job postings.

What began as a niche experiment among hobbyists is rapidly becoming a mainstream capability. For Andrew Ng, vibe coding represents one of AI’s most empowering impacts—a chance for anyone, regardless of background, to build and innovate with virtually no technical barrier.