Shopify’s CEO, Tobi Lütke, expects his employees to “be absolutely ahead” when it comes to using artificial intelligence in their day-to-day tasks, according to a recent internal memo shared to his X account Monday.
In the memo, the Shopify co-founder makes it clear that “using AI effectively is now a fundamental expectation of everyone at Shopify.”
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It seems that expectation could also impact employees’ tenure at Shopify if they’re unable to deliver. Lütke noted that AI usage will become part of performance reviews for employees.
“In a company growing 20-40 percent year over year, you must improve by at least that every year just to re-qualify. This goes for me as well as everyone else,” he said in the memo.
What’s more, employees inside Shopify will now be required to prove why AI is unable to complete a task before they ask to add roles or resources to their teams.
“Before asking for more headcount and resources, teams must demonstrate why they cannot get what they want done using AI,” Lütke wrote. “What would this area look like if autonomous AI agents were already part of the team? This question can lead to really fun discussions and projects.”
Lütke noted throughout the memo that senior leaders, including himself, will be subject to the same policies and practices as the rest of the company. Though he previously put out “a call to action and invitation for everyone to tinker with AI,” he’s now keen to make that a requirement to garner efficiency gains, unlock tasks previously considered “implausible” and more.
“It’s the most rapid shift to how work is done that I’ve seen in my career, and I’ve been pretty clear about my enthusiasm for it,” Lütke wrote in the memo.
It appears another CEO wants to get in on the fun. Ryan Petersen, CEO of freight forwarding company Flexport, replied to Lütke’s post agreeing with the sentiment behind his note to Shopify employees.
“@grok please rewrite this [as] a memo I can pretend I wrote and send to Flexport employees,” Petersen wrote in Lütke’s replies. Grok is an AI chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s xAI.
Flexport recently completed its first winter technology release, which included a variety of tools meant to increase the efficiency of the company’s employees and operations. At the time, Petersen told Sourcing Journal he expects that, the more Flexport is able to automate and leverage AI, the greater its headcount will become.
