Spotify’s Engineers Stop Coding as Honk AI Takes Over Development Workflow
Spotify says engineers now guide AI instead of coding, as Honk AI accelerates product launches and reshapes software development.
Elon Musk recently predicted that coding as a profession could largely vanish by the end of 2026. While that claim may sound extreme, the shift toward AI-driven software development is clearly accelerating. Spotify is the latest tech giant to publicly embrace this transformation, revealing that its top engineers have not written code themselves for months.
During its fourth-quarter earnings call, Spotify co-CEO Gustav Soderstrom shared a striking update. The company’s top engineers, he said, “have not written a single line of code since December.” Instead, much of Spotify’s software development is now handled by its in-house artificial intelligence system, Honk AI.
At the core of this transformation is Honk AI, an internal platform built on Anthropic’s Claude Code. The system is deeply integrated into Spotify’s workflows through Slack-based “ChatOps,” allowing engineers to manage development tasks conversationally. From fixing bugs to adding features and deploying updates, much of the execution is now automated.
“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 explained while describing how the AI improves productivity. “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.”
This new workflow fundamentally changes the day-to-day role of engineers. Rather than manually writing repetitive code, they now instruct the AI, review its output, and approve changes. Honk AI handles execution. Humans handle judgment.
Spotify says the results have been tangible. In 2025 alone, the company rolled out more than 50 updates and new features to its streaming platform. In early 2026, it introduced AI-powered Prompted Playlists, Page Match for audiobooks, and About This Song in rapid succession — releases that might once have taken far longer to develop and deploy.
According to Gustav, this pace would not have been possible without AI embedded directly into the development pipeline. By automating routine and time-intensive coding tasks, Spotify has enabled its engineering teams to focus on architecture, product strategy, and higher-level problem-solving.
Importantly, the company maintains that AI is not replacing engineers. Instead, it is redefining their responsibilities. The emphasis is shifting from hands-on coding to oversight, decision-making, and creative problem-solving. Engineers are becoming conductors of intelligent systems rather than line-by-line programmers.
Spotify views this transformation as an early stage in a much broader evolution. “We foresee this not being the end of the line in terms of AI development, just the beginning,” said Gustav.
As AI tools grow more capable and more deeply embedded in corporate workflows, Spotify’s experiment may offer a glimpse into the future of software engineering — one where writing code becomes optional, but human insight remains essential.
