Earnings Call Comments On AI Use
Spotify said this week that some of its best developers “have not written a single line of code since December,” according to comments from co-CEO Gustav Söderström during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call. The statement was part of a broader discussion about how Spotify is using AI tools to speed up software development and product delivery.
Recent Product Updates
During the call, Spotify said it shipped more than 50 new features and changes to its streaming app throughout 2025. The company also said it has recently rolled out additional updates, including AI-powered Prompted Playlists, Page Match for audiobooks, and About This Song, which launched within the past few weeks.
Internal System For Coding And Deployment
Spotify told analysts that its engineers are using an internal system called Honk to increase coding speed and product velocity. The system supports remote, real-time code deployment with generative AI, including the use of Claude Code. Söderström described a scenario in which an engineer can use Slack on a mobile phone during a commute to instruct Claude to fix a bug or add a feature to the iOS app. He said that once the work is completed, a new version of the app is sent back to the engineer through Slack, allowing it to be merged into production before the engineer arrives at the office. Spotify said the system has helped accelerate coding and deployment.
Outlook On AI Development
Söderström said the company does not view its current use of AI as an endpoint and described it as an early stage in a longer process of development. He said Spotify expects continued changes as the technology evolves.
Data And Model Training
Söderström also discussed Spotify’s efforts to build a dataset that he said other large language models cannot easily replicate. He said music-related questions do not always have factual answers and often depend on personal or regional preferences. He gave examples that included differences in workout music choices, noting that many Americans prefer hip-hop, while some listeners choose death metal, and that some Europeans work out to EDM while many Scandinavians prefer heavy metal. He said Spotify is building a dataset at a scale that does not currently exist elsewhere and said it improves each time the company retrains its models.
Policy On AI-Generated Music
Analysts asked about Spotify’s approach to AI-generated music. The company said it allows artists and labels to indicate in a track’s metadata how a song was created and said it continues to monitor the platform for spam.
Featured image credits: Wikimedia Commons
For more stories like it, click the +Follow button at the top of this page to follow us.