When Tobi Lütke dropped the Shopify CEO AI memo, the collective intake of breath across the e-commerce world was audible. It wasn’t just another corporate update. It felt more like a manifesto from a guy who had spent too much time looking at a future most of us aren't ready for yet. Honestly, if you’re still thinking about AI as just a way to write better product descriptions, you’re missing the point Tobi was trying to hammer home.
Business as usual is dead.
He basically told his entire staff that the "crappy" parts of their jobs were about to evaporate. That sounds great on paper, right? No more spreadsheets? No more manual data entry? But the subtext was much heavier. If the machine does the "crappy" work, what exactly are you doing? That’s the tension that still lingers.
The Shift from "Sidekick" to "Substance"
For years, we treated AI like a helpful intern. You’d give it a task, it would give you something 70% usable, and you’d fix it. The Shopify CEO AI memo flipped that. Lütke views AI not as a tool you use, but as a fundamental shift in how a company is built from the ground up. He’s obsessed with efficiency. This is a guy who famously deleted all recurring meetings with more than two people because he felt they were "bloat."
When he looks at AI, he sees the ultimate bloat-remover.
Think about the way Shopify restructured. They didn't just add a chatbot to the help desk. They integrated "Sidekick"—their internal and merchant-facing AI—into the core logic of the platform. But it goes deeper than software. Lütke’s philosophy, as outlined in his communications, suggests that the "talent density" of a company has to skyrocket because the baseline for average work is now free. If an AI can produce average work in three seconds, why would a multi-billion dollar company pay a human to do it in three hours?
It’s harsh. It’s also probably correct.
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What the Shopify CEO AI Memo Actually Said About Human Value
A lot of people panicked when they read between the lines. They saw "AI" and thought "layoffs." And yeah, Shopify has had its fair share of "re-calibrations," including the massive 20% cut in 2023 when they sold off their logistics arm to Flexport. But Lütke’s argument is more nuanced. He thinks humans are actually being wasted on tasks that don't require human creativity.
He wants "crafters."
In his world, a crafter is someone who uses the tools to build something that wouldn't exist otherwise. It’s about the difference between being a "manager of processes" and a "creator of value." If you spend your day moving tickets from one column to another in Jira, you should be worried. If you spend your day figuring out how to make a merchant's store convert 10% better using data-driven insights that only a human could synthesize with empathy, you’re the person he wants to keep.
The "Pre-AI" vs. "Post-AI" Company
Most companies are "Pre-AI." They are built on hierarchies that were designed in the 1950s. You have a boss, who has a boss, who has a boss. Information flows up and down slowly. Decisions take weeks.
The Shopify CEO AI memo hints at a "Post-AI" structure.
It looks like this:
- Small, hyper-autonomous teams.
- AI agents handling all the logistical glue.
- Zero tolerance for "coordination headwind."
Lütke hates coordination headwind. That’s his term for the friction that happens when you need five people to agree before you can change a button color. In an AI-augmented company, one person should be able to do what used to take a team of ten. This isn't just theory for him; it's why Shopify is leaning so hard into its "Sidekick" feature. They want to give every small business owner the power of a full-scale creative agency.
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Why Merchants Should Care (Even if They Don't Work at Shopify)
If you’re running a store on Shopify, this memo affects you more than the employees. Why? Because the platform is being rebuilt to expect you to be an AI power user.
Take the magic media editor, for example. In the old days, you’d hire a photographer, wait for the RAW files, hire a retoucher, and then upload them. Now, Shopify’s internal AI lets you swap backgrounds and enhance lighting in seconds. Tobi’s vision is that the "cost of starting" a business should go to zero, while the "potential for scale" should go to infinity.
But there’s a catch.
When everyone has access to the same world-class AI tools, "good" becomes the new "average." You can't win on being "okay" anymore. You have to be exceptional. The memo suggests that the winners in the next decade won't be those who use AI to work less, but those who use AI to do more than was ever previously possible.
The Great De-skilling Myth
There’s a common argument that AI makes us dumber. People say we’ll forget how to write, how to code, or how to think. Lütke seems to believe the opposite. He views AI as a "bicycle for the mind," a phrase famously used by Steve Jobs. A bicycle doesn't make you walk less; it makes you go further with the same amount of energy.
The Shopify CEO AI memo frames the technology as a way to "level up" the entire workforce. If you don't have to worry about the syntax of a line of code, you can spend your time thinking about the architecture of the entire system. That’s a higher-level skill. It’s more demanding, not less.
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Navigating the Shopify CEO AI Memo Era: Practical Moves
You can't just read about this and go back to your day. The landscape has shifted. If you’re a developer, a merchant, or a corporate leader, you need to adjust your trajectory based on the signals Tobi is sending.
1. Identify your "Glue Work"
Look at your calendar. How much of your time is spent on "coordination"—emails, status updates, Slack threads that go nowhere? That’s the stuff the Shopify CEO AI memo identifies as obsolete. If your value is purely in "managing the flow," you are at risk. Start automating those workflows now before the company does it for you.
2. Master the "Prompt-to-Product" Pipeline
Don't just use AI to generate text. Use it to build prototypes. Shopify is moving toward a world where you describe a feature and the AI builds the skeleton. Learn how to speak the language of these systems. It's not about "prompt engineering" (a term that will probably be dead in two years); it's about "intent clarity." Can you describe exactly what you want with enough precision that a machine can execute it?
3. Lean into Human Asymmetry
What can't the AI do? It can't feel the "vibe" of a brand. It doesn't understand the subtle cultural nuances of a specific niche market. It doesn't have a "taste." Lütke is a big believer in taste. Develop yours. Curate your brand’s aesthetic and voice so specifically that AI-generated clones look cheap by comparison.
4. The "Single Person Agency" Mindset
If you’re a merchant, stop thinking about when you’ll be "big enough to hire." Instead, ask how you can stay small while acting big. Use AI for customer service, for SEO, and for image generation. The goal is to keep your overhead low and your agility high. This is exactly what Shopify is trying to enable with their latest updates.
The Shopify CEO AI memo wasn't just a corporate fluff piece. It was a warning shot. The world of e-commerce and tech is moving into a phase where "effort" is no longer a competitive advantage. Only "insight" and "execution" matter. Tobi Lütke is betting the future of his multibillion-dollar company on the idea that AI will make humans more productive, not more redundant. Whether he’s right depends entirely on how we choose to use the time the machines give back to us.
Stop managing. Start building.