AI (Artificial Intelligence) coding tools are lowering the barrier to application development. Even people who can't write code can create 'self-made' apps in just a few hours with AI tools. Some have earned tens of thousands of yuan after their self-made apps reached #1 in the paid app rankings just four hours after release.

In 2025, freelance developer Chen Yunfei (チェン・ユンフェイ), despite having no coding experience, used an AI coding tool to develop '小猫補光灯' (Little Cat Fill Light), an auxiliary light app for taking beautiful selfies.

The inspiration for the app development came from his girlfriend's advice. He noticed on the SNS 'Xiaohongshu' that many female users were creating fill light effects using color cards. After conducting extensive research and validation of user needs, Chen developed the fill light app using an AI coding tool in about an hour. The next day, it passed App Store review and was released.

Chen released a paid version with upgraded features, '小猫補光灯Pro' (Little Cat Fill Light Pro), at a fixed price of 1 yuan (approx. 23 yen). This app became #1 in the app store's paid app ranking just four hours after its release.

Chen explained, 'The download counts for these two apps have currently reached approximately 300,000 to 500,000 each. The income from '小猫補光灯Pro' (from its release to the present) is approximately 300,000 to 400,000 yuan (approx. 7.05 million to 9.4 million yen).'

Similarly, the AI entrepreneurial journey of freelance developer Wanwan (pseudonym) began with a collaboration with an institution. He stated, 'In February, I collaborated with a small financial institution to develop a product that researches investments using AI, and I was responsible for the software portion, receiving a fee of 20,000 yuan (approx. 470,000 yen). The project started from the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year, which was February 17th this year), and we completed the most basic version with core functionalities working in three weeks, followed by another three weeks for final delivery.'

When the project ended, Wanwan believed that this product had unique value and market potential. He then 'self-made' a new financial AI app called 'Bfit'. It has been on the market for one month now.

This development method, where apps can be 'self-made' in a short time even without knowing code, is also called 'vibe coding' (sensory coding), where humans give instructions in natural language and AI generates the code. Andrej Karpathy, co-founder of OpenAI, stated in February 2025, 'Developers don't truly need to understand the syntax of code; by conveying their ideas through natural language, AI will generate the code. Developers only need to verify the effects 'by feel,' he said.

Ma Jihua (マー・ジーホア), founder of Shanghai Darui Supply Chain Management Consulting and a veteran analyst of the internet industry, predicted, 'As AI technology develops further and users repeatedly utilize it, AI agent engineering will be established. In the future, with the support of AI agents, even 'one-person companies' will be able to lead collaborative work in front-end, back-end, testing, and operations/maintenance, forming small teams, and undertaking projects that previously required external assistance or huge investments.' (Provided by People's Daily Online Japanese Edition / Edited by KS)