The CEO of the Canadian cross-border e-commerce platform Shopify warned employees: If you don't know how to use AI to complete tasks, you won't have a job!

Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke shared an internal memo with over 8,000 employees on X. This memo is for internal use and urges Shopify employees to effectively and frequently use artificial intelligence, but it quickly sparked controversy due to a particularly blunt statement. He asked colleagues to first demonstrate why they cannot use AI to complete their work before asking for more headcount and resources. (Before asking for more headcount and resources, teams must demonstrate why they cannot get what they want done using AI.)

Tobi Lütke, as the CEO of the first technology company, clearly stated to employees that AI can replace any position, and employees need to prove their value and familiarity with and understanding of artificial intelligence tools; otherwise, there will only be downsizing in the future, not recruitment.

Tobi Lütke stated that after an internal memo from Shopify was leaked online, it created many misunderstandings. To avoid misinterpretations that could cause panic among employees and the public, he specifically reposted the full text and explained that his intention was to emphasize the importance of employees taking AI tools seriously.

Shopify's application plugins are closely related to artificial intelligence technology.

Tobi Lütke stated that he uses a large number of AI tools for presentations and speeches, and we have now entered an era where entrepreneurs are being born at all times. He has already seen that there will be more application scenarios emerging in the future.

Shopify is a Canadian B2B cross-border e-commerce company that allows merchants to build e-commerce websites, find suppliers, create online advertisements, use AI assistants, and generate coupons and data reports through value-added paid services on Shopify. These services are gradually replacing many labor-intensive tasks in response to the booming development of AI, especially as AI agents can almost entirely replace online customer service personnel in e-commerce.

Employees at Shopify must clearly understand what kind of value AI can bring to customers. First, they must know how to use AI tools themselves and reflect on why their job position does not require AI or why they do not consider using AI before requesting personnel or resources from the company.

Shopify employees need to learn how to use AI to complete their work.

Tobi Lütke believes that Shopify employees must integrate artificial intelligence into their work, and using AI will become a part of their performance evaluations, which is the overwhelming message conveyed in the employee memo. The AI tools that Shopify employees must understand and use include Microsoft's Copilot, Anthropic's Claude, and Cursor. Lütke stated that merely using these AI tools is not enough; to ensure Shopify does not fall behind, effectively using artificial intelligence is a basic expectation for every employee at Shopify. Shopify's internal case management tool, GSD, will also use artificial intelligence to track the progress and status of each project.

Introduction to Shopify

Tobi Lütke and Scott Lake co-founded Shopify in 2006. (Shopify Inc. Nasdaq symbol: SHOP) Shopify is a Canadian cross-border e-commerce company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. Shopify's predecessor was an online ski equipment store called Snowdevi, originally Tobi Lütke's own e-commerce website. Dissatisfied with the e-commerce systems of the time, he, being an engineer, decided to develop a new e-commerce system himself.

Lütke built the online store for Snowdevil using the open-source web application framework Ruby on Rails, and it went live after two months of development. The platform was launched under the name Shopify in June 2006. Shopify developed an open-source template language called Liquid, which is written in Ruby.

In June 2009, Shopify launched the application interface (API) platform and App Store. The API allows developers to create applications for Shopify online stores and then sell them to customers on the Shopify App Store.

Shopify is a one-stop service that includes setting up e-commerce websites, website sales, POS payments, digital marketing, transportation, and warehousing. Shopify can also help merchants find suppliers and develop their own products. As of 2024, Shopify has 5.6 million active stores in over 175 countries and regions.

This article warns employees from Shopify, the Canadian cross-border e-commerce platform, by its CEO: If you don't understand how to use AI to complete tasks, you won't have a job! Originally appeared in Chain News ABMedia.