Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai disclosed that he has been “vibe coding,” or using AI to code for him through prompts, to build a webpage.

Pichai said on Wednesday at Bloomberg Tech in San Francisco that he had been experimenting with AI coding assistants Cursor and Replit, both of which are advertised as able to create code from text prompts, to build a new webpage.

Related: Here’s How Much a Typical Google Employee Makes in a Year

“I’ve just been messing around — either with Cursor or I vibe coded with Replit — trying to build a custom webpage with all the sources of information I wanted in one place,” Pichai said, per Business Insider.

^{Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images}

Pichai said that he had “partially” completed the webpage, and that coding had “come a long way” from its early days.

Vibe coding is a term coined by OpenAI co-founder Andrej Karpathy. In a post on X in February, Karpathy described how AI tools are getting good enough that software developers can “forget that the code even exists.” Instead, they can ask for AI to code on their behalf and create a project or web app without writing a line of code themselves.

There’s a new kind of coding I call “vibe coding”, where you fully give in to the vibes, embrace exponentials, and forget that the code even exists. It’s possible because the LLMs (e.g. Cursor Composer w Sonnet) are getting too good. Also I just talk to Composer with SuperWhisper…

— Andrej Karpathy (@karpathy) February 2, 2025

The rise of vibe coding has led AI coding assistants to explode in popularity. One AI coding tool, Cursor, became the fastest-growing software app to reach $100 million in annual revenue in January. Almost all of Cursor’s revenue comes from 360,000 individual subscribers, not big enterprises. However, that balance could change: As of earlier this week, Amazon is reportedly in talks to adopt Cursor for its employees.

Another coding tool, Replit, says it has enabled users to make more than two million apps in six months. The company has 34 million global users as of November.

Related: This AI Startup Spent $0 on Marketing. Its Revenue Just Hit $200 Million.

Noncoders are using vibe coding to bring their ideas to life. Lenard Flören, a 28-year-old art director with no prior coding experience, told NBC News last month that he used AI tools to vibe code a personalized workout tracking app. Harvard University neuroscience student, Rishab Jain, 20, told the outlet that he used Replit to vibe code an app that translates ancient texts into English. Instead of downloading someone else’s app and paying a subscription fee, “now you can just make it,” Jain said.

Popular vibe coding tools offer a free entry point into vibe coding, as well as subscription plans. Replit has a free tier, a $20 a month core level with expanded capabilities, such as unlimited private and public apps, and a $35 per user, per month teams subscription. Cursor also has a free tier, a $20 per month pro level, and a $40 per user, per month, business subscription.

Despite the existence of vibe coding, Pichai still thinks that human software engineers are necessary. At Bloomberg Tech on Wednesday, Pichai said that Google will keep hiring human engineers and growing its engineering workforce “even into next year” because a bigger workforce “allows us to do more.”

“I just view this [AI] as making engineers dramatically more productive,” he said.

Alphabet is the fifth most valuable company in the world with a market cap of $2 trillion.

As chief marketing officer of the Tim Moran Auto Group, which runs Ford, Chevrolet and Hyundai dealerships, I’ve discovered the hard way that the best marketing campaigns don’t always originate in the boardroom, but in the news cycle.

Recently, news of fresh 25% tariffs against imported vehicles and automotive parts lit up the headlines and sent shock and confusion throughout the business community. Decisions like these can ripple through global supply chains, dealer inventories and customer bank accounts. But for companies that move quickly, changes in policy can also turn into moments of connection, urgency and growth.

In our situation, consumer behavior was directly affected by the announcement. The day after the news became public, we saw traffic to our dealerships surge. Phones rang nonstop. Customers were suddenly jolted into an action that they had deferred for weeks.” The message was obvious: urgency had washed into the market, and we had to act.

Related: How Trump’s Tariffs Are Reshaping Startups and Venture Capital

What tariffs on cars would mean for the auto industry

Tariffs, in essence, increase the cost of importing vehicles and parts. Domestic production has cushioned some of the blow, though a lot of vehicles continue to depend on parts or manufacturing procedures that come from abroad. For dealers, that could mean higher wholesale prices, tightened inventory and some models cutting into consumers’ budgets, making cars less affordable.

But here’s the catch: Those increases won’t occur overnight. There’s a window — some days, some weeks — where it’s unaffected, whatever the current inventory happens to be. And there is a huge marketing opportunity in that window.

We saw it firsthand. Staring down tariffs, we initiated campaigns encouraging customers to “lock in current pricing before prices went up.” Our messaging was all about transparency and value: “These vehicles, they’re on the lot now at today’s prices. They will probably cost more in the months ahead. Act now.” We were not fearmongering — we were providing our customers with a heads-up and helping them to make informed decisions.

Three brands, one clear message

While each brand we represent — Ford, Chevrolet and Hyundai — brings its own strategy to the table, they’re all preparing for the same reality: potential price increases driven by incoming tariffs that could impact parts, manufacturing and ultimately, sticker prices. That’s why our group’s message is simple and urgent: Get in now, while current on-lot inventory is still protected from these changes. Once that inventory is gone, replacements could cost thousands more — and no one can say for certain how steep those increases might be.

Ford has leaned in with one of the strongest consumer incentives we’ve seen in years: employee pricing for everyone through July. That alone creates a major opportunity for savings before any tariff-related effects are felt. We’ve emphasized that this is a rare moment — with deep discounts available now, and a finite window before future inventory may carry higher costs due to global sourcing.

Chevrolet and Hyundai, meanwhile, are both offering aggressive financing programs across popular models. These offers give customers a way to lock in low rates on current inventory before any upstream cost increases work their way into pricing. Our messaging has focused on clarity: All three brands will likely feel some level of tariff impact, especially when it comes to parts and production costs. So the time to act — to save and secure the best value — is before those effects ripple through the supply chain.

Related: Historic Perspectives on Tariff Policies and Modern Impacts

Marketing in uncertain times

When you’re in the middle of a fast-moving story like this one, clarity and nimbleness are essential. We leveraged various platforms — email, paid search, social media and even radio — to communicate a consistent message: Tick-tock, time’s a-wasting. Customers seemed to appreciate the forthrightness. We weren’t pushing products to meet targets; we gave them the opportunity to front-run the system before prices moved.

We’ve had success with strategies such as:

• Time-locked events: “Tariff Countdown Sales” and “Beat the Price Hike” weekends built urgency and provided a clear rallying point for our teams.
• Incentive layering: Adding the tariff message to existing rebates or financing programs made the deals seem even more attractive.
• Concise deadlines: Whether it was a deadline for a tariff or the close of a promotion, we were always crystal clear when customers would no longer be able to take advantage and why they must act now.

And, perhaps most important, we taught our sales teams to have conversations, not just close sales. We armed them with talking points about how tariffs might affect pricing down the line and how current offers could help customers get ahead of those price increases. This helped build trust and establish our team as trusted advisors, not mere salespeople.

Related: 5 Startup Marketing Moves That Work Even in Uncertain Times

Sage advice for entrepreneurs of every variety

The auto industry may feel the impact of tariffs most acutely, but the larger strategy we used can work for any business.

Here’s some advice for entrepreneurs who want to capitalize on external events as marketing fodder:

• Stay plugged into the news. Having ripplecalling here means that, say, if there are legislative changes, economic changes or changes around the world, that affect your industry, you can end up seeing ripple effects through it. The quicker you can spot those changes, the quicker you can craft the judicious value-based message.
• Create urgency with truth. Here are the only two things that motivate people: scarcity and deadlines — but only when they’re real. Don’t invent panic. Rather, describe to your customers how an event (such as a tariff or new regulation) will impact your prices, availability or service offerings — and be upfront while you do so.
• Frame the case in terms of what’s good for the customer. Instead of “We need to move inventory,” it’s “You can save money by buying before X happens.” Articulate the benefit and put your customer first.
• Spend time building campaigns and testing everything. Some of our messaging was about “tariff alerts,” while other sessions delved into more traditional, seasonal language. Through A/B testing, we learned what angle is most relatable to various segments, and we adapted accordingly.
• Lead with value, not fear. But it doesn’t have to all be bad. Emphasize what your customers get by acting now, not just what they lose by waiting.

In a constantly changing news world, agility is one of the most powerful weapons in a marketer’s arsenal. The tariffs are only one example, but the principles we used work whether you are selling cars, real estate, software or services. When the winds of change from the outside are blowing into your industry, do not turn back. Step up, speak clearly and turn that moment into momentum.

We don’t control the news. But we do have control over how we react to it — and that’s where true opportunity resides.

Reddit filed a lawsuit against AI startup Anthropic on Wednesday, alleging that the $61.5 billion startup used its site as training grounds for AI models without permission.

In the 42-page complaint, which was filed in Northern California court on Wednesday, Reddit claimed that Anthropic violated Reddit’s user agreement by using the site’s data for commercial purposes. Anthropic has allegedly been training its AI models on posts made by Reddit users without their consent.

Related: ‘Faster, Smarter, and More Relevant’: Reddit Tests AI That Combs the Site For You

According to TechCrunch, the lawsuit marks the first time a big tech company has legally challenged an AI startup over the material it uses to train AI models.

“We will not tolerate profit-seeking entities like Anthropic commercially exploiting Reddit content for billions of dollars without any return for redditors or respect for their privacy,” Reddit’s chief legal officer Ben Lee told TechCrunch in a statement.

Meanwhile, in an emailed statement to CNBC, an Anthropic spokesperson stated, “We disagree with Reddit’s claims and will defend ourselves vigorously.”

In July 2024, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman called out Anthropic, Microsoft, and Perplexity for unauthorizedly scraping the site for training data, and an Anthropic spokesperson assured Reddit that it had stopped. However, since then, Reddit claims to have registered that Anthropic’s bots have crawled its site over 100,000 times, per the complaint.

^{Reddit co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman. Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images}

Other companies are using Reddit data for AI training, but only after signing formal agreements with the company. Reddit struck a $60 million licensing deal with Google in February 2024, which allowed Google to train its Gemini AI on Reddit data. Reddit inked a similar contract with OpenAI in May 2024, so the ChatGPT-maker can refine its AI models from Reddit posts.

In the lawsuit against Anthropic, Reddit wrote that OpenAI and Google “are permitted to use public Reddit content but only after agreeing to Reddit’s licensing terms,” which include provisions to protect user privacy. Anthropic has not agreed to any terms and is using the site’s data without permission, Reddit claims.

Related: The Reddit Co-Founders Faced a Transformative Rejection in College — Here’s How They Bounced Back to Start a $6.5 Billion Business

Reddit has over 100 million daily active users across hundreds of thousands of subreddit communities, per the complaint. The company said the purpose of the lawsuit is to seek damages. It’s asking for a jury trial.

Reddit went public in March 2024 and is valued at over $21 billion at the time of writing.