• Source:JND

Elon Musk said something that might not resonate well with many coders, as Musk believes that coding as a profession could come to an end, and that too by the end of 2026. The tech titan is quite well known for throwing such statements, but is there evidence that might suggest that he might be right? In reality, the idea is inching closer each day as AI suits and models become more nuanced and tech conglomerates continue to automate their workflows using AI, and coding here is at the top of the list. Big names like Google, Anthropic, and Microsoft are now employing AI to write complex software, and now we have another company joining the bandwagon, Spotify. The company says that since December 2025, not a single code has been written by their top engineers; in fact, the jobs are now done by their internal Honk AI, which is handling most tasks.

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Spotify's co-CEO Gustav Soderstorm said during the company's fourth-quarter earnings call that their top engineers “have not written a single line of code since December”. This comment surfaced after Spotify shed light on how AI is now a core part of its development pipeline.

Honk AI Doing All The Heavy Lifting

Gustav has explained how Honk AI sits at the core of Spotify's AI-led development. Built on Claude code, the AI tool is integrated with Slack-based "ChatOps", which automates build pipelines. This AI system enables engineers to manage bug fixes, introduce new features, and even deploy code instantly. Rather than writing every line themselves, Spotify’s engineers now guide the AI to carry out these tasks, stepping in mainly to review and approve the final results.

“As a concrete example, an engineer at Spotify on their morning commute from Slack on their cell phone can tell Claude to fix a bug or add a new feature to the iOS app,” Gustav said. “And once Claude finishes that work, the engineer then gets a new version of the app pushed to them on Slack on their phone so that they can merge it to production — all before they even arrive at the office.”

Spotify's AI Gives Speedy Results

Spotify claims that its AI gamble is paying off and is giving fast results. In 2025 itself the company was able to add more than 50 new features and enhancements to its streaming app. In 2026 we saw the AI-powered prompted playlists, Page Match and About This Song all came out within weeks of each other getting released.

Gustav believes the pace and scale of these releases simply would not have been achievable without AI acting as a support layer for engineering teams.

That said, Spotify is clear for now that AI is not pushing engineers out of the picture. While machines now take on a significant share of the coding work, human engineers remain deeply involved. Their focus has shifted away from repetitive tasks toward reviewing AI output, shaping system architecture, making product calls, and tackling more complex problems.

At Spotify, the idea is straightforward: AI takes care of execution, while humans apply judgement.

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Overall, this reflects a broader shift underway inside Spotify’s engineering teams, mirroring how tech companies across the industry are rethinking software development as AI becomes more deeply embedded in everyday workflows.


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