Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke has formally declared the use of artificial intelligence a core job requirement for all employees, following the leak of an internal company memo outlining the company’s AI-driven future.
In a post shared on his personal Twitter account, Lütke published the full contents of the memo, originally circulated within the company. The move comes amid speculation that the memo was about to be leaked publicly, potentially in a negative light. Instead, Lütke embraced its message, framing it as a necessary and ambitious shift for the e-commerce giant.
“We are entering a time where more merchants and entrepreneurs could be created than ever before,” Lütke wrote, stating that Shopify must be at the forefront of using AI to remove complexity for business owners. “Using AI effectively is now a fundamental expectation of everyone at Shopify.”
The memo, written in the tone of a company-wide directive, signals a major cultural shift within one of Canada’s most valuable tech companies. Employees are now expected to integrate AI tools, such as code assistants, chatbots, and autonomous agents, into their daily workflows. Performance and peer reviews will soon include AI competency as a metric, and teams must demonstrate that projects cannot be accomplished through AI before requesting additional staff or resources.
Lütke called the rise of AI “the most rapid shift to how work is done” in his career and said it offers an “unprecedented” opportunity to multiply productivity. “Stagnation is almost certain, and stagnation is slow-motion failure. If you’re not climbing, you’re sliding,” he wrote. The memo also encouraged staff to share AI-related successes and failures with one another, integrating AI experimentation into regular team reviews and product development cycles. Shopify employees have had access to various internal and external AI tools for some time, including GitHub Copilot, Claude, and internal systems like chat.shopify.io.
“Everyone means everyone,” Lütke emphasised, clarifying that the expectation to use AI applies across all levels of the organisation, including executives.
The public release of the memo reflects Shopify’s broader strategy to position itself as a leader in AI-driven entrepreneurship. The company, which powers e-commerce sites for millions of merchants globally, has been investing heavily in AI as it competes with rivals like Amazon and Wix. “Our job is to figure out what entrepreneurship looks like in a world where AI is universally available,” Lütke said. “We’re all in on this.”