Boris Cherny: Claude Code & the Future of Engineering | Acquired Unplugged presented by WorkOS

Claude Code emerged from Anthropic’s Labs team as a tool to push model frontiers and study AI safety in real-world environments. By treating coding as a rigorous, pass-fail "petri dish," the company successfully aligned its product development with its core safety mission. The integration of Claude Code transformed internal engineering workflows, increasing productivity by hundreds of percentage points and reducing new-hire ramp-up times from weeks to mere days. This evolution signals a fundamental shift in software development: manual coding is increasingly replaced by managing autonomous loops, effectively merging traditional roles like design, product management, and engineering into a unified "builder" archetype. Ultimately, the future of AI development lies in teaching models human values and intent, moving beyond technical execution toward a paradigm where AI agents autonomously navigate complex problem-solving.