Vibe coding in nursing education: From user to creator

The rise of generative artificial intelligence has begun to transform how digital tools are created, shifting development from conventional programming toward natural language prompting, iterative refinement, and AI-assisted generation. Popularly described as "vibe coding," this informal practice refers to building applications, interfaces, automations, or prototypes by describing desired outcomes conversationally and revising outputs until they function as intended. Although the term is playful, it signals a significant shift in who can participate in digital creation and what forms of expertise now matter. This paper argues that "vibe coding" provides a useful contemporary lens for examining an important issue in nursing education: the transition from nurses as users of educational technologies to potential co-designers of digital learning tools. Nursing education has increasingly incorporated simulation, learning management systems, virtual cases, electronic documentation, and AI-enabled supports, yet nurses have often remained positioned as adopters rather than designers of these systems. AI-assisted creation may begin to alter that relationship by lowering barriers to prototyping and enabling educators and students to translate pedagogical ideas into functional tools more quickly. This shift holds promise for more contextually grounded, practice-informed, and responsive educational innovation. At the same time, it raises critical concerns regarding accuracy, bias, accessibility, privacy, pedagogical quality, and the illusion of expertise. As a Contemporary Issues conceptual commentary, the paper explores the educational possibilities and ethical tensions associated with AI-assisted creation in nursing education and argues that the issue should not be approached with either uncritical enthusiasm or outright rejection. Instead, nursing education may need to cultivate critically informed digital co-design capacity. This includes moving beyond basic digital literacy toward critical AI literacy, supporting educators in responsible experimentation, and ensuring that relational, reflective, and equity-oriented commitments remain central. Ultimately, nursing education must prepare future nurses not only to use digital systems, but also to question, evaluate, and, when appropriate, help shape them.