The German CEO of Shopify, Tobias Lütke, explains in an internal memo the importance of artificial intelligence. In the future, no employees should be hired if AI cannot perform the job better.
Who is speaking? Tobias Lütke was born in Koblenz and later moved to Canada, where he founded the company Shopify. Shopify offers a service that allows businesses to create their own online stores. The company is one of the most important companies in Canada.
Lütke recently stated in an internal memo to his employees that AI is becoming increasingly important and will also play a significant role for future employees. He also said that “AI usage is now a baseline expectation for everyone at Shopify”.
Employees must prove that AI cannot do the job better
What did he say about future employees? In the memo titled “AI usage is now a baseline expectation,” Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke stated that employees must prove that new hires are only necessary if AI cannot perform the job better. Otherwise, he sees no reason to hire new employees:
Before we ask for more personnel and resources, teams must demonstrate why they cannot achieve what they seek using AI. What would this area look like if autonomous AI agents were already part of the team? This question can lead to really interesting discussions and projects.
(…)
What we need to succeed is our collective overall competence and our ambition in applying our craft, multiplied by AI, for the benefit of our merchants. Those who do not climb will slip.
For some time now, Shopify has been outsourcing departments or replacing employees with artificial intelligence or fully relying on AI features for developments. This is reported by Business Insider.com:
- In early 2023, the company began using generative AI in customer service. A job that had previously been done by human support employees.
- Also in 2023, the company laid off 20% of its workforce, withdrew job offers from former interns, and sold its logistics company Deliverr, which it had acquired in 2022 for 2.1 billion US dollars.
- In January 2025, the company reportedly laid off more employees from its support department, which deals with the issues of millions of merchants using the platform to sell products. This was also reported by Business Insider
- Additionally, the company bought Vantage Discovery in March 2025, a startup that develops AI-powered search functions for retailers.
AI tools like ChatGPT have revolutionized the professional lives of many people. Not without reason, many people fear that these developments will lead to some potentially losing their jobs to artificial intelligence soon.
Sam Altman, founder of OpenAI and the main developer of ChatGPT, explains that 34 professions will never be replaced by AI: The inventor of AI ChatGPT reveals which 34 professions AI will never be able to replace
