‘Coding May Disappear by 2026’: Elon Musk’s Claim Gains Momentum as Spotify Turns to AI

According to Elon Musk, coding might be a thing of the past by the end of 2026. This statement from the richest man in the world might be a little exaggerated, but the truth is already staring us in the face. Every tech company is trying to automate their workflow, and coding, of course, tops the list. Anthropic, Google, and Microsoft are already using AI for coding, and now the latest addition to the list is Spotify. According to the company, their best engineers haven't written a single line of code since December 2025, and the work is being done by their AI system, Honk.

In the fourth-quarter earnings call, Spotify co-CEO Gustav Söderström said the company's best engineers "haven't written a single line of code since December." This comment came as Spotify detailed how artificial intelligence is now deeply embedded in its development pipeline.

Gustav explained that at the heart of Spotify's AI-led transformation is an internal system called Honk AI. This AI tool is built on cloud code and integrated with Slack-based ChatOps to automate the build pipeline. This AI tool allows engineers to handle bug fixes, feature additions, and even code deployments in real time. Simply put, instead of manually typing code, Spotify engineers are now simply asking AI to do the work, and they simply review and approve the output.

Gustav explained how AI increases productivity, saying, "For example, a Spotify engineer can ask Claude to fix a bug or add a new feature to the iOS app while commuting through Slack on their cell phone in the morning.

And when Claude finishes that task, the engineer gets the new version of the app on Slack on their phone, so they can merge it into production, all before they get to the office."

According to Spotify, this shift to AI has significantly accelerated development. In 2025 alone, the company shipped over 50 new features and changes to its streaming app. In early 2026, it launched AI-powered prompted playlists, Page Match for audiobooks, and About This Song, all within a few weeks.

According to Gustav, the scale and speed of these releases wouldn't have been possible without AI-supporting engineers.

Even though AI is doing most of the coding, Spotify says this doesn't mean engineers are no longer involved. Rather, their role is changing. Instead of repetitively writing code, they're looking at AI-generated output, focusing on architecture, product decisions, and higher-level problem-solving.

In short, the workspace for software engineers at Spotify is changing, similar to what we're seeing at other tech companies experimenting with AI-driven development. And Spotify believes this is just the beginning. Gustav said, 'We believe that this is not the end of AI development, it is just the beginning.'