No-code app creator Cobuilder launched by Airtable

Airtable has announced the launch of Airtable Cobuilder, their no-code application builder. Describe what you want in words, and Cobuilder takes your idea from concept to reality, generating a customizable application in seconds. This simple no-code approach using natural language means that anyone can easily build and customize intuitive apps that transform their work.

About that no-code app creator Cobuilder launched by Airtable

Modern companies need custom applications that meet their unique business needs. But the status quo no longer cuts it: SaaS point solutions are brittle and siloed, and building traditional in-house software development is slow, expensive, and not flexible enough to adapt to quickly evolving company priorities.

The future is no-code

"Companies are already starting to move away from the traditional path of buying SaaS point solutions. Within the next five years, teams will build the vast majority of applications in-house, customizing them to transform their most critical workflows. But to get there, knowledge workers who are closest to the work need to be empowered to build their own apps, regardless of their technical level," said founder and CEO, Howie Liu.

Access the no-code power of Airtable, instantly

AI is poised to drive a sea change in software as we know it today. On its own, AI can be an incredibly powerful tool for software development. When combined with no-code, it unlocks an entirely new era of application development - enabling the people working on your most critical workflows to become capable app builders in seconds with the assistance of a smart AI cobuilder.

Airtable Cobuilder combines the vast knowledge of today’s large language models (LLMs) with the accessibility of Airtable’s no-code app platform to bring net-new ideas to life. It leverages the knowledge these models have across industries, use cases, and business concepts to immediately translate your desired outcome into a very detailed app - that you can then customize and tweak with a simple click.

• Effortless way to turn ideas into apps: Users can describe their idea to Airtable Cobuilder. Example: “I’m a director for the next Dune movie, and I need an app to manage my pre-production before filming begins in January 2025.” This generates a preview of a custom Airtable application in seconds, allowing teams to reimagine legacy workflows and experiment with new ways of working.
• Leveraging the power of AI: The power of Airtable Cobuilder rests in its ability to leverage the latest generation of LLMs to build extremely personalized apps. When users provide additional details like the company they work for or project they’re working on (Dune), function (Director), specific requirements they need (lead up to January 2025), or describe the workflow they’re trying to build (manage film’s pre-production), Cobuilder is able to generate a highly-specific and unique app – one that leverages the knowledge base of LLMs.
• Customizable to unique business needs: One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to business apps. After the initial generation, users can preview the app and make any needed adjustments to suit their exact needs. This is where no-code shines: instead of needing a developer to review, debug, and edit code to make changes, anyone can edit the app. You can focus less on building, and more on customizing, automating, and enabling the work that matters.
• Data privacy and security: Airtable protects the privacy and security of customers' data. No customer data is used to train current or future LLMs.
• More to come: Instant, no-code app building with Cobuilder is just the beginning. We are building towards a world where Cobuilder allows you to make all kinds of app customizations and automation as you get deeper into the work: ask Cobuilder to add a new base populated with supplied content, generate insights at scale, build a timeline to track deadlines, and more.
   

Describe the app you need. Let Cobuilder do the rest.

While Airtable is designed to be easy to use, starting from scratch can feel daunting – and new builders still sometimes struggle to uncover the platform’s full power when they first start building applications.

Cobuilder makes it possible for anyone to go from an initial idea to the full first draft of an app without any effort. This not only accelerates time-to-value for each use, but also increases the number of useful apps that can be created within an organization. And, best of all, apps built with Cobuilder carry the same value of any app made with Airtable—consistent, best-in-class interfaces for the end user, structured underlying data, and logic and automations.

Additional prompt examples include:

• “I need to launch a women’s skateboarding shoe in time for the Olympics.”
• “Help me track renovations of our boutique hotels in Marrakesh.”
• “I need to track the parts and production schedule for the Artemis Mission SLS rocket system.”
   

During our beta, we saw widespread adoption amongst customers within the media, tech, financial services, and retail industries. Thousands of applications were built using Cobuilder, marking the beginning of a new era for app development and no-code AI. And most importantly, 9 out of 10 times the AI generated something useful and impactful, as validated by in-product feedback during the Cobuilder beta.

"Airtable’s mission has been to empower new generations of builders to create the apps they need to run their business. We pioneered a way for citizen developers across teams to build apps that are simple to create, intuitive to use, and customizable to any business need. That’s why builders have created over 50M apps with Airtable to-date. AI is now massively accelerating our ability to deliver on this mission. Cobuilder represents an entirely new and distinct set of capabilities around AI building that empowers anyone to turn an idea into reality in seconds," said Liu.

Cobuilder capabilities will grow over time, like the ability to incorporate existing data sets at the app generation stage; chat support that can make adjustments and edit your app at any stage in the process on your behalf; and a smart developer assistant for users.

Transform your work with new Airtable AI capabilities

Airtable is continuing to invest in AI across every aspect of the platform. In addition to Airtable Cobuilder, we are launching new Airtable AI features to help teams operationalize AI into their data and workflows, enabling customers to realize the transformative promise of AI in every department.

• Doc extraction: Users can now use Airtable AI to extract information from PDF documents, allowing them to leverage key data in their workflows. Later this year, this functionality will support additional document types such as images, presentations, text and audio files.
• Internet search and browse: Users will soon be able to use AI to pull in data from public internet pages and searches, enriching their Airtable data and streamlining time-consuming research.
• New models: Airtable AI allows customers to choose which AI platforms and model developers to utilize based on their needs and preferences. Today, we support the OpenAI GPT models, Anthropic’s Claude models via Amazon Bedrock, and IBM’s Granite and Meta’s Llama 3 models via IBM watsonx. Airtable will continue to offer additional platforms and models to give customers an even wider breadth of choice.