Google CEO Sundar Pichai is doing something unexpected: using AI tools to build his own web apps.
Speaking at the Bloomberg Tech conference in San Francisco, Pichai said he’s been experimenting with AI coding assistants like Replit and Cursor. “It feels so delightful to be a coder in this moment,” he said.
Pichai explained that he has been building a custom web page that pulls information from different sources based on a typed location. He described the app as “partially complete” but said the process has been fun and simple thanks to AI.
This new way of coding — called “vibe coding” — is about giving AI prompts to generate code instead of writing it manually. The term was made popular by OpenAI’s Andrej Karpathy. It’s already being adopted at big companies like Amazon, which is reportedly testing Cursor for its staff.
Pichai said he wishes he had more time to code this way. “It’s exciting to see how casually you can do it now,” he added. He also emphasized that engineers are still needed, even with these new tools. “I think so, yes,” he said when asked if coding jobs are still necessary.
Other tech leaders agree. They believe AI will make developers more productive, not replace them. Developers will likely focus more on testing ideas and less on repetitive tasks.
Still, some CEOs, including OpenAI’s Sam Altman, have warned that AI could reduce demand for coders over time. Altman said software engineers will be able to do much more, but eventually fewer may be needed.
For now, Pichai is enjoying the change. “Compared to the early days of coding, things have come a long way,” he said.
A Google spokesperson declined to comment further.
