LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — “Vibe coding,” a word that essentially means using artificial intelligence (AI) to tell a machine what you want instead of coding it yourself, was on Thursday named the Collins Word of the Year 2025.

Coined by OpenAI co-founder Andrej Karpathy, the word refers to “an emerging software development that turns natural language into computer code using AI,” according to Collins Dictionary.

“It’s programming by vibes, not variables,” said Collins.

“While tech experts debate whether it’s revolutionary or reckless, the term has resonated far beyond Silicon Valley, speaking to a broader cultural shift towards AI-assisted everything in everyday life,” it added.

Lexicographers at Collins Dictionary monitor the 24 billion-word Collins Corpus, which draws from a range of media sources including social media, to create the annual list of new and notable words that reflect our ever-evolving language.

The 2025 shortlist highlights a range of words that have emerged in the past year to pithily reflect the changing world around us.

“Broligarchy” made the list in a year that saw tech billionaire Elon Musk briefly at the heart of United States President Donald Trump’s administration and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos cozying up to the president.

The word is defined as a small clique of very wealthy men who exert political influence.