Shopify CEO responds to ‘leaked’ staff memo revealing wild new AI hiring rule

The CEO of a major e-commerce platform has responded after an internal memo revealing a brand new staff hiring rule was “leaked” online.

The CEO of a major e-commerce platform has made big waves after telling employees they can only hire new staff if the role can’t be completed by artificial intelligence.

Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke told staff that they would now be expected to prove why certain jobs can’t be done using AI.

“Before asking for more Headcount and resources, teams must demonstrate why they cannot get what they want done using AI,” he said.

“What would this area look like if autonomous AI agents were already part of the team? This question can lead to really fun discussions and projects.”

The bold announcement was included in an internal memo sent by Mr Lutke last month, with the CEO recently sharing it to his own social media after hearing that it was “being leaked” and “presumably shown in bad faith”.

The CEO shared the internal memo after claiming it was being ‘leaked’ online. Picture: Tobi Lutke/X

As part of the changes, staff must now prove a job can’t be done by AI before hiring someone new. Picture: Tobi Lutke/X

The contents of the lengthy memo related to the use of AI across the company, with the CEO stating tapping into this technology was now “a fundamental expectation of everyone at Shopify”.

To ensure staff follow this new directive and check in on employee progress, Mr Lutke said the company would also be adding AI usage questions to performance and peer review questionnaires.

“Learning to use AI well is an unobvious skill. My sense is that a lot of people give up after writing a prompt and not getting the ideal thing back immediately,” he said.

“Learning to prompt and load context is important, and getting peers to provide feedback on how this is going will be valuable.”

The CEO’s email has gained widespread attention, with responses split between praise for embracing new technology and horror at seemingly encouraging the replacement of jobs by AI.

Shopify CEO, Tobi Lutke. Picture: Tobi Lutke/Instagram

One respondent branded the CEO’s position as “cold and lacking empathy to humans”, while another claimed they would resign on the spot if their employer sent out this type of directive.

“Saying the quiet part out loud,” another wrote.

Others questioned why the onus should be on the staff to prove the role can’t be done by AI, rather than on the company to prove that AI can do a better job than a human.

There were also concerns about what this type of mindset meant for graduates who are just entering the workforce and would likely be going into the types of roles the company is encouraging staff to use AI to complete.

One person said that, while they believe encouraging AI is the right path, it was “just a scary one” as it leads to less employment for people over time.

“It also starts to beg the question of how does the next generation get into the workforce if traditional entry level jobs are now being done by AI,” they wrote.

Another simply said: “College students are so cooked.”

However, there were many commenters who were praising the CEO for his pro-AI stance.

“Well done leading from the front and not apologising. I’m sure the internal pushback is significant – the protestation is the admission,” one person said.

“‘Hire an AI before a person’ is uncomfortable to read, but it’s the honest truth. And it’s only going to accelerate from here,” another said.

One business owner claimed they haven’t needed to fill more junior roles for this team because of the ability to fill the gap with AI.

Another commenter even suggested that teams must demonstrate why are they not “actively reducing headcount” as a result of AI advancements.

“Asking for more headcount today should feel borderline shameful. Every day, new AI tools show up that replace more and more of what used to take entire teams,” one added.

In the email, Mr Lutke added that absolutely everyone working at Shopify was expected to adhere to the new AI rules, even those high up in the company.

“This applies to all of us — including me and the executive team,” he wrote.

This line quickly caught the attention of people online, with many questioning whether his rules around using AI to complete certain roles applied to his own job.

“Could an AI agent replace your role?” one person asked.

“I bet AI would make excellent CEOs,” another pointed out.