Modern CTO

The 5 Levels of AI Coding & the Collapse of Human-Written Code with Trevor Hinesley, Co-Founder & CTO at Soundstripe

Modern CTO

Show Notes

His company policy is: there will be absolutely no human-written code.

Today, we're talking to Trevor Hinesley, Cofounder and CTO at Soundstripe. We discuss the five levels of AI-written code and what it actually looks like to operate at the highest ones, why Trevor's team has a strict policy of zero human-written code, how the "dark factory" concept is reshaping what engineers actually do, and why a company built on AI-powered development still bets everything on human-made music.

All of this right here, right now, on the Modern CTO Podcast!

To learn more about Soundstripe, check out their website here.

More from Modern CTO

Oct 22, 2026

What if the quantum threat everyone is preparing for isn't the one that will actually arrive first? Today, we're talking to Konstantinos Karagiannis, Senior Director of Quantum Computing Services at Protiviti.

Oct 19, 2026

What if the biggest AI risk in your company is the tool your team quietly adopted last week? Today, we're talking to Andrius Buinovskis, VP Product Strategy at NordLayer. We explore how shadow IT evolved into shadow AI as work moved into the browser, why the instinct to ban is giving way to securing use instead, what separates human AI from non-human AI, and how CTOs can start protecting data without slowing adoption.

Oct 15, 2026

Today, we're talking to Mario Ciabarra, founder and CEO of Quantum Metric. We discuss why a generative AI demo that works in an afternoon proves almost nothing, how testing ten ideas against real customers beats betting on one big strategy, and why building a multibillion dollar company comes down to loving the daily grind more than anyone expects.

Oct 12, 2026

What’s left for humans to do once AI is better at solving problems than we are? Today, we’re talking to Scott Aaronson, a theoretical computer scientist at UT Austin who has spent his career on quantum computing theory. We explore how AI is changing the way we do math and teach students, what it takes to keep increasingly capable systems aligned with human goals, and why one of computer science’s most famous puzzles, P versus NP, matters to everyday programmers.

Oct 8, 2026

The best reliability work is the kind nobody notices, and that's exactly why it deserves more credit. Today, we're talking to Kolton Andrus, founder and CEO of Gremlin. We discuss why the engineers who prevent fires deserve as much recognition as the ones who fight them, how testing failure on purpose turned a dreaded holiday on-call into a quiet one, and why teams that pair AI speed with real-world testing can build software that holds up.

See all episodes →