The CEO of Shopify asks managers to prove that AI could not do a better job before asking to hire someone again.
In an internal memo entitled “The use of AI is now a reference expectation”, the CEO of Shopify, Tobi Lütke, said that “the use of AI is a skill which must be carefully learned” by “using it a lot” and that the use of AI is “now a fundamental expectation of everyone at Shopify”.
“Before asking for more workforce and resources, teams must demonstrate why they cannot get what they want to do using AI,” Lütke wrote in the memo he published on X after his disclosure. “What would this field look like if autonomous AI agents were already part of the team? This question can lead to really fun discussions and projects.”
Lütke added that the questions of use of the AI will also be added to the “Questionnaire on performance and peer journeys” of Shopify and that the employees will have “access to as many cutting -edge AIa as possible”.
“This applies to all of us, including me and the management team,” wrote Lütke.
Shopify did not respond to a request for comments from Business Insider.
At the beginning of 2023, the company began to improve customer service levels by adopting AI Generative To manage certain tasks that employees help before.
Later that year, he dismissed 20% of his workforce, canceled job offers for former trainees and sold her logistics company Deliverr, which she acquired in 2022 for $ 2.1 billion.
In 2024, the management of Shopify announced a reorganization to correct the “unhealthy” ratio of managers at “crafts”, the term of the company for individual contributors.
In January 2025, the company quietly dismissed employees of its support division, which summarizes the problems of millions of merchants who use the platform to sell products.
Above Six startups That Shopify acquired in 2024, in March, the company also bought Vantage Discovery, a startup that builds research functions fueled by AI for retailers. The intelligent research platform would be able to provide a “Pinterest type capacity to any retailer” using a generative AI.
“What we need to succeed is our total collective sum and our total ambition to apply our profession, multiplied by AI, for the benefit of our merchants,” said Lutke in memo. “If you don’t climb, you slip.”
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