Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke: AI is now a ‘fundamental expectation’ for employees

Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke shared an internal memo on X on Monday that stressed the importance of using AI effectively in daily tasks. In fact, he wrote, using AI is now a “fundamental expectation” of Shopify employees.

Spotify product designers are now expected to use AI tools to do all platform feature prototypes. The results, Lutke says, are more exploratory and faster to produce and share. Shopify already provides employees with access to various AI coding tools from Github (Copilot), Cursor, and Anthropic (Claude code).

“Our task here at Shopify is to make our software unquestionably the best canvas on which to develop the best businesses of the future,” Lutke wrote in the memo, which he said he posted to X because he believed it was about to be leaked anyhow. “We do this by keeping everyone cutting edge and bringing all the best tools to bear . . . for that we need to be absolutely ahead.”

Lutke says his company will judge employees in performance reviews on how well they know and use AI tools. Employees are expected to continue to learn about and experiment with new AI tools, and share their findings within the company.

Spotify product designers are now expected to use AI tools to do all platform feature prototypes. The results, Lutke says, are more exploratory and faster to produce and share. Shopify already provides employees with access to various AI coding tools from Github (Copilot), Cursor, and Anthropic (Claude code).

But the new focus on AI tools such as Anthropic’s Claude and Github’s Copilot may not end at helping clients. Lutke says that before Shopify hires any more humans to work at the company, the hiring managers must explain why an AI tool couldn’t do the job. 

“[T]eams must demonstrate why they cannot get what they want done using AI,” he wrote. “What would this area look like if autonomous AI agents were already part of the team?”

Shopify has been a boon for merchants by providing a comprehensive, user-friendly platform that streamlines the process of establishing and managing online stores.

“Our job is to figure out what entrepreneurship looks like in a world where AI is universally available,” Lutke wrote in the memo. “And I intend for us to do the best possible job of that, and to do that I need everyone’s help.”

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