Elon Musk: AI will make software writing akin to recreational painting
AI automation handles routine coding, transforming engineering into a creative pursuit
xAI’s Grok 4 supports over 20 languages, integrates directly into code editors
Codex, GitHub Spark and Grok highlight AI’s evolving multi-step coding workflows
Elon Musk Predicts Future of Coding, Says "Writing Software will be Like Being Painter"
xAI CEO Elon Musk predicts that AI coding assistants like Grok 4 and OpenAI’s Codex will soon handle routine programming, transforming software writing from a functional task into a recreational, painter-style creative endeavor, mirroring advancements in generative AI tools across the industry
xAI CEO Elon Musk
Summary
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Elon Musk, CEO of AI start-up xAI, predicts that writing software will soon resemble painting, shifting from a functional profession to a creative pastime as AI continues to automate routine coding tasks.
Responding on social media to a post by OpenAI President Greg Brockman, Musk wrote: “AI has taken a lot of the drudgery out of writing software. But, in the fairly near future, writing software will be like being a painter… now you can make a video selfie instantly and effortlessly. There are still people who paint, of course but it’s recreational rather than functional.”
AI‑Coding Assistants
The prediction comes amid a flurry of AI‑powered coding tools. OpenAI’s Codex agent, unveiled earlier this year, is designed to function as a cloud‑based software engineering assistant. Microsoft’s GitHub Spark AI similarly enables developers to generate entire applications from natural‑language prompts.
xAI itself recently enhanced its Grok chatbot with an advanced coding assistant, Grok 4, which supports over 20 programming languages and integrates directly into code editors for tasks such as writing, debugging and explaining code via conversational commands.
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Musk, who was among OpenAI’s founding members before parting ways with the organisation, launched xAI and folded its operations into his social media venture X (formerly Twitter).
Under his leadership, xAI has positioned Grok as a competitor to industry stalwarts such as ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude. Musk’s latest remarks highlight xAI’s ambition to push the boundaries of generative AI toward fully agentic systems capable of autonomously handling complex multi‑step coding workflows.
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