In partnership with

Find out why 1M+ professionals read Superhuman AI daily.

In 2 years you will be working for AI

Or an AI will be working for you

Here's how you can future-proof yourself:

1. Join the Superhuman AI newsletter – read by 1M+ people at top companies

2. Master AI tools, tutorials, and news in just 3 minutes a day

3. Become 10X more productive using AI

Join 1,000,000+ pros at companies like Google, Meta, and Amazon that are using AI to get ahead.

Sign up and start learning AI

AI at Shopify: Brilliant Strategy or Corporate Overreach?

Good morning, ambitious readers!

Today we're diving into a spicy company memo that's making waves in the tech world. Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke just dropped what might be the most aggressive AI adoption mandate we've seen from a major tech company - essentially telling employees: adapt or perish.

The Memo Heard 'Round the Tech World

Lütke's message to the Shopify team doesn't mince words. His central thesis? "AI usage is now a baseline expectation" for ALL employees. Not just engineers. Not just product teams. Everyone.

Some choice quotes that raised our eyebrows:

• "Frankly, I don't think it's feasible to opt out of learning the skill of applying AI in your craft... Stagnation is almost certain, and stagnation is slow-motion failure."

• "Before asking for more headcount and resources, teams must demonstrate why they cannot get what they want done using AI."

• "It's too unlike everything else. The call to tinker with it was the right one, but it was too much of a suggestion. This is what I want to change here today."

Breaking Down This AI Ultimatum

What Lütke is proposing isn't just a new tech adoption - it's a fundamental reorganization of how work gets done. He's declaring AI not as an optional tool but as a core multiplier (his words, not ours) that will reshape Shopify's entire approach to entrepreneurship and commerce.

Lütke frames it in ambitious terms: "We are entering a time where more merchants and entrepreneurs could be created than any other in history." The goal? To use AI to "bring down the complexity curve" of entrepreneurship.

The Big Questions This Raises

1. Is this visionary leadership or unrealistic pressure?

Mandating AI usage across an entire organization assumes everyone can adapt at the same pace. While tech-forward employees might thrive, others could struggle to integrate these tools meaningfully into their workflows.

2. What happens to employees who don't adapt?

Reading between the lines, if you're not enthusiastically becoming an "AI centaur" (their internal term for human-AI collaboration), your future at Shopify looks... uncertain. Is this fair when AI aptitude might not have been part of the original job description?

3. Will this actually deliver the promised results?

Lütke claims he's seen people "approach implausible tasks" and get "100X the work done" through "reflexive and brilliant usage of AI." That's a bold claim that remains unproven at scale.

Potential Risks of This Approach

Talent exodus: Skilled employees who feel uncomfortable with the new AI-first mandate might jump ship.

Quality concerns: Rushing to implement AI in every workflow could lead to mediocre outputs that look good on efficiency metrics but create downstream problems.

Overreliance: Building core business functions around current AI capabilities creates vulnerability if those tools change, fail, or face regulatory challenges.

Cultural shift: The memo emphasizes speed and efficiency, potentially at the expense of human creativity and careful deliberation.

Why This Matters Beyond Shopify

Shopify isn't just any company - it powers over 2 million merchants globally and has massive influence in the e-commerce ecosystem. If this approach proves successful, expect others to follow suit, potentially creating a new standard where AI proficiency becomes as fundamental as email or spreadsheet skills.

Other companies (Microsoft, Google, Adobe) have been incorporating AI, but few have made such a direct mandate to employees about adoption expectations.

Executive Summary

What Happened: Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke has mandated AI usage across the entire company, making it a fundamental job expectation for all employees.

Key Points:

• AI usage will be incorporated into performance reviews

• Shopify is treating AI as a talent multiplier that will fundamentally transform work

• Headcount requests must demonstrate why AI can't solve the problem first

• The company is providing access to multiple AI tools including Claude, Copilot, and their own chat.shopify.io

Potential Outcomes:

• Accelerated innovation if the strategy works as intended

• Possible talent disruption as employees adapt or leave

• New benchmark for AI adoption in enterprise settings

• Reimagining of entrepreneurship if AI truly reduces complexity

Bottom Line: Shopify is making an audacious bet that AI can transform not just how their company works internally, but how entrepreneurship itself functions. The success or failure of this approach will likely influence how other companies approach AI adoption in the coming years.

What do you think? Is Lütke boldly leading into the future or pushing too hard, too fast? Reply to this email with your thoughts!

In case you missed the original post:

Click here to learn more about how BeeHiiv can help you launch and grow your newsletter.