Vibe off #1

DNB vs Ruter

Two companies rebuilt each other’s apps with AI. That’s how Vibe Off started.

1. Umair rebuilt DNB
In May 2026, Umair Imam, then Director of AI at Ruter, rebuilt DNB's mobile banking app with an AI coding assistant: balances, transactions, moving money between accounts, and an AI helper for personal finance. It took under two hours. Fake data, no real login, and shown as exactly that: a demo.
2. Nicolai rebuilt Ruter
Nicolai Rygh, DNB's CTO, answered with a build. He rebuilt the Ruter app the same evening. Generous about the build, and honest: his own Ruter app would never get a passenger anywhere on time.
3. The 5% and the 95%
Nicolai's point was the one that stuck. Screens with fake data are about the first 5%. Real customer data, fraud checks, safe logins, privacy rules, and someone on call when it's somebody's rent: that's the other 95%, and that's where a bank lives.
4. A name, and a coffee
Shifter called it a vibe off. Umair and Nicolai met for coffee and talked it through on Shifter's podcast. The line that stuck: “We're not competitors.”

“The hard part isn’t the screens. It’s everything you can’t see.”
Nicolai Rygh, DNB, in Shifter (translated)

1. Umair rebuilt DNB