Spotify says developers haven't coded since December, thanks to AI
What's the story
Spotify has revealed that its best developers have not written a single line of code since December 2025. The revelation was made by the company's co-CEO Gustav Soderstrom during their fourth-quarter earnings call. He said this is due to their in-house AI system, Honk, which has taken over most of the coding work and helped speed up feature rollouts on the platform.
AI integration
Honk is based on Anthropic's Claude code
Honk, an internal system based on Anthropic's Claude Code, is integrated with Slack to facilitate real-time code deployment. This innovative tool lets engineers handle bug fixes, feature additions, and even code deployment in real time. Instead of manually writing code, Spotify's engineers are now instructing the AI to perform tasks which they only review and approve later.
Rapid progress
AI has accelerated feature rollouts
The integration of AI into Spotify's development pipeline has resulted in a significant acceleration of the process. In 2025 alone, the company rolled out over 50 new features and changes to its streaming app. In early 2026, it introduced AI-powered Prompted Playlists, Page Match for audiobooks, and About This Song within weeks of each other. Soderstrom emphasized that these rapid releases wouldn't have been possible without AI supporting engineers.
Role shift
Humans still in the loop
Despite the heavy reliance on AI for coding, Spotify insists that engineers are still very much involved in the process. However, their role is changing from writing repetitive code to overseeing AI-generated output and focusing on architecture, product decisions, and higher-level problem-solving. As Soderstrom put it: "Honk handles execution. Humans handle judgment." This shift reflects broader trends in AI-driven development across the tech industry.