IBM Corp. is pushing into the emerging “vibe coding” trend via an investment in the popular “design-to-code” startup Anima App Inc., as part of an effort to help reshape how companies design, build and ship digital products in the artificial intelligence era.

Vibe coding has become a hugely disruptive force in software development, enabling developers and even nondevelopers to generate, refine and debug application code using natural language prompts. The trend has shifted the focus of developers from writing code line-by-line to higher-level guidance and accelerated development lifecycles.

However, IBM says, vibe coding isn’t always perfect, because though language models excel at generating logic, they often fall short in delivering consistent, high-quality and on-brand user interfaces. This is where Anima comes in: It democratizes UI design by bringing in an AI agent that allows anyone to become an application designer. Anima’s agents have full access to all of the brand context, including its design files and code and its brand language, enabling it to craft branded products that can instantly be shipped.

Anima describes this process as “design-to-code.” Its platform integrates with tools such as Adobe XD, Figma and Sketch and transforms UI designs into fully functional and high-fidelity code at the click of a button. It aims to be the bridge between designers and developers, converting static visual layouts into clean and responsive code that can be deployed directly in production.

The company says it can accelerate the design-to-development process by automating the repetitive task of writing boilerplate frontend code, HTML and CSS. This means developers can focus more on the complex logic that’s needed to enable the functionality of their applications, rather than the way they look and feel. Users simply upload a visual design, and Anima will generate the code needed to create a functioning UI. From there, users can refine the design using natural language prompts to get it just right.

IBM, which didn’t specify the size of the investment, says it shares the same core belief with Anima that design should no longer be a static artifact. Instead, it sees design evolving to become living, interactive code that’s responsive and connects to real-world data. AI is uniquely able to facilitate this, for it understands the structure of code better than it understands pixels and vectors.

Anima Chief Executive Avishay Cohen said vibe coding is accelerating us toward a future in which more than 3 billion people around the world will become coders. “AI brings a new era for design and product, where code is the new canvas,” he said. “This strategic investment from IBM supercharges our mission to bring Anima to every enterprise team, drawing on its global operations and extensive expertise in enterprise technology and AI.”

Anima, which last raised outside funding in September 2021, said the undisclosed investment will enable it to deepen integrations of its platform with various enterprise brands and design tools and support legacy front-end code. The startup has already enjoyed a lot of success, becoming a core element of design projects at companies such as Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Deloitte Touche Ltd. and Accenture Plc. Organizations report that Anima helps them to accelerate design projects by up to 50% on average, while saving around 80% on the costs of front-end coding.

IBM’s global head of venture capital Emily Fontaine said Anima’s platform has really resonated with enterprise product and design teams. “We are confident Anima will stay at the forefront as design and engineering converge, delivering greater efficiency and innovation for enterprise clients,” she said.

Image: Anima