Shopify Inc. is doubling down on artificial intelligence with a series of new policies that will make the technology a “fundamental expectation” for all staff by embedding it into everything from performance reviews to product development.
A memo released by CEO Tobi Lütke urged the Ottawa-based e-commerce software company’s staff not already treating AI like a critic, tutor, programmer or deep researcher to use the technology.
“Frankly, I don’t think it’s feasible to opt out of learning the skill of applying AI in your craft; you are welcome to try, but I want to be honest I cannot see this working out today, and definitely not tomorrow,” Lütke wrote in a memo he posted to X on Monday because he heard it was being leaked.
“Stagnation is almost certain, and stagnation is slow-motion failure. If you’re not climbing, you’re sliding.”
The more than 1,100-word memo solidifies AI’s place at Canada’s most prominent tech company but also sets a new standard for how deep AI could penetrate corporate Canada.
Lütke’s vision will see AI figure into every nook and cranny of his company and even wind its way into how staff pursue projects.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.
In Shopify’s current approach to product development, each project begins with a prototype phase, where ideas are tested before being built and released.
Lütke’s memo said he wants AI to be used at that earliest stage because “AI dramatically accelerates this process.”
“You can learn to produce something that other team mates can look at, use, and reason about in a fraction of the time it used to take,” he wrote.
AI will also crop up in staff performance and peer review questionnaires because he said his “sense is that a lot of people give up after writing a prompt and not getting the ideal thing back immediately.”
He said teams wanting more resources and the ability to hire must also demonstrate why they cannot get what they want done with AI before they will be given permission to carry out their plans.
Asked about what guardrails Shopify will rely on to ensure anything AI generates is accurate and not inserting biases or errors into work, Shopify spokesperson Jackie Warren did not respond.
The priorities Lütke outlined will apply to everyone from executives like himself to the company’s most junior ranks because he wants to “totally change Shopify, our work, and the rest of our lives.”
Shopify’s use of AI has steadily increased in recent years with the company rolling out tools its merchant clients can use to answer questions or write product descriptions and email subject lines.
Shopify president Harley Finkelstein has previously told The Canadian Press he turns to AI to write copy for his Firebelly Tea company and when someone sends him a long news article, he asks the technology to summarize it so he can decide if it’s worth a read later.
Lütke has said he used the technology to create a talk he offered at the company’s last annual summit, where he encouraged more staff to follow his lead and dabble with AI.
“What we have learned so far is that using AI well is a skill that needs to be carefully learned by … using it a lot. It’s just too unlike everything else,” he said in his memo.
“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.”
© 2025 The Canadian Press
