Nothing launches AI tool for building mini apps using prompts (techcrunch.com)

Nothing has launched Playground, an AI-driven "vibe-coding" tool that lets users create and customize mini apps (primarily widgets) for its Essential Apps platform using natural-language prompts. Playground can generate simple widgets — like flight trackers, meeting briefs, or virtual pets — from scratch, or modify existing Essential Apps; more technical users can open and edit the generated code. Nothing says full-screen apps aren’t supported yet because the underlying tech isn’t mature. The company has so far shipped one AI-enabled app (Essential Space for screenshots, voice notes, and transcription), and Playground is currently free as Nothing focuses on community growth rather than monetization. For the AI/ML community, Playground represents another push to embed generative models into end-user software creation and operating-system-level personalization. It highlights trends toward no-code/low-code app generation, on-device context usage, and hybrid workflows where prompts seed code that developers can refine. Key implications include increased velocity for prototyping UI widgets, potential privacy/security challenges from third-party mini apps, and maintenance burdens that have hampered similar smartphone experiments. Backed by a recent $200M funding round and a hardware-first AI vision from CEO Carl Pei, Nothing is betting that lightweight AI authoring plus careful security controls could differentiate its software stack — but success will hinge on safety, developer tooling, and user trust.