Cursor looks like a normal programmer's editor (it is built on the same foundation as Microsoft's VS Code), but with AI woven through it. You can select code and ask for changes in plain language, have the AI write whole features, or let its agent mode work through a task across many files while you watch.
It became one of the fastest-growing software products ever by winning over two audiences at once: professional developers who wanted speed, and non-programmers who discovered they could build things by describing them (see vibe coding).
Why you keep hearing it
Because for a stretch of 2024 and 2025, Cursor was the tool in every "I built this with AI" story, and it remains a fixture in AI building content alongside Lovable and Claude Code. When someone says "I made it in Cursor", they mean they built software with heavy AI assistance, inside a real code editor.
What it means for you
Cursor sits one step more technical than the describe-and-done tools: you see the actual code, which gives more control and asks more of you. If a marketer on your team wants to graduate from generated landing pages to genuinely custom tools, this is a common next step.