Devs won't dev anymore? Vibe-coding PMs taking over?
Spotify says its best developers haven't written a line of code since December thanks to AI. That claim makes you stop and think.
As a vibe-coding Product Manager, writing a prompt today often feels like writing a compact PRD. The execution layer is not a traditional dev handoff. It's an AI model. And delivery can happen in minutes, not weeks.
Why this changes product speed
You can prototype faster, explore ideas faster, and test opportunities that used to feel too expensive to even try.
Sometimes the PM is not talking to the dev team first. Sometimes the PM is talking to Opus 4.6 first.
Will developers disappear?
No. Strong developers become even more critical, because someone still needs to:
- review and control what AI writes
- define architecture
- understand tradeoffs
- prevent silent technical debt
- write the code AI learns from
Human-in-the-loop is not only about checking an AI plan halfway. It's about steering the system from the first decision to the final release.
Will PMs disappear?
Also no. The core PM work remains:
- what to build
- why now
- how much effort
- how to go to market
- how to measure success
AI is an amplifier, not a replacement
AI amplifies strong roles. Strong developers become faster architects. Strong PMs become faster experimenters.
AI is not a role replacement. It is a job exoskeleton.
Spotify's example and what it really means
The reported workflow is impressive: an engineer can ask Claude from Slack on a phone to fix a bug or add an iOS app feature.
But two responsibilities still stay human: someone defines what should be built, and someone ensures it does not break everything else.
The better question
Maybe the question is not "Will devs stop devving?"
Maybe it is: who can think clearly in an AI-accelerated world?
Source: Spotify article