Vibe coding: democratiser or industry killer?

Vibe coding is a helpful tool, but use it with caution. (Image: Getty)

Mon, 05 Jan 2026

Last April, Wellington’s Creative HQ held a fintech festival, a parade of startup companies in front of potential investors. They had all completed a recent three-month accelerator programme at the organisation.All had a story to tell, and all had access to some degree of coding expertise.It’s not unusual for the co-founders of a software-as-a-service startup to include a non-technical ideas person and a coder, most famously Apple’s Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.The rise of so-called “vibe coding”, enabled by new AI...

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