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Tobi Lutke

AI fluency is now a baseline job requirement — opting out is slow-motion failure.

AI Mandate Thesis​

Tobi's internal memo reframes AI adoption not as a productivity tool but as a cultural expectation. Every employee must integrate AI into their workflow. Every resource request must first ask whether AI can do the job. The organization that treats AI as optional is the organization that loses.

Daily Integration​

  • Action: Use AI tools as a thought partner, researcher, critic, tutor, or pair programmer in your daily tasks.
  • Details: Leverage tools like chat.shopify.io, Copilot, Cursor, or Claude code, all pre-tooled for Shopify employees.
  • Goal: Build familiarity with AI by using it consistently for tasks like brainstorming, coding, or research.
  • Timeline: Start immediately; aim for daily usage within the first week.
  • Responsible: All employees, including leadership.

Prototype Speed​

  • Action: Use AI to accelerate the prototype phase of every GSD (Get Sht Done*) project.
  • Details: Focus on AI-driven exploration to produce tangible outputs (e.g., mockups, code snippets, data visualizations) for team review.
  • Goal: Reduce prototype development time by leveraging AI to create actionable insights faster.
  • Timeline: Implement in your next GSD project cycle, targeting completion within 2 - 4 weeks.
  • Responsible: Project leads and team members involved in prototyping.

Prompting Craft​

  • Action: Learn to craft effective AI prompts and load context to improve output quality.
  • Details: Practice writing prompts and iterate based on results; seek feedback from peers during performance and peer reviews.
  • Goal: Overcome frustrations with AI (e.g., non-ideal responses) by mastering prompting techniques.
  • Timeline: Start within the first month; continuously improve through peer feedback.
  • Responsible: All employees, supported by peer review groups.

Shared Learning​

  • Action: Actively share successes (Ws) and failures (Ls) from AI experiments with your team.
  • Details: Use platforms like Slack (#revenue-ai-use-cases, #ai-centaurs) or Vault to post prompts, workflows, or insights you've developed.
  • Goal: Foster a collaborative learning environment by contributing to the company's collective AI knowledge base.
  • Timeline: Begin sharing within 2 weeks; contribute at least once per month.
  • Responsible: All employees, encouraged by team leads.

Headcount Discipline​

  • Action: Assess whether tasks can be accomplished using AI or autonomous agents before requesting additional resources or headcount.
  • Details: Document how AI could address the need (e.g., automating processes or scaling workflows) and discuss findings with your team.
  • Goal: Optimize resource allocation by maximizing AI capabilities while keeping headcount flat.
  • Timeline: Apply this step to your next resource request within the quarter.
  • Responsible: Team leads and managers.

Monthly Reviews​

  • Action: Dedicate time during monthly business reviews and product development cycles to discuss AI integration progress.
  • Details: Present how your team has used AI, including specific examples of productivity gains or challenges encountered.
  • Goal: Ensure continuous improvement and alignment with Shopify's AI-driven roadmap.
  • Timeline: Begin at the next monthly review cycle (within 4–6 weeks).
  • Responsible: Team leads with input from all team members.

Performance Expectations​

  • Action: Be ready to answer questions about how you've applied AI in your work during performance and peer reviews.
  • Details: Reflect on your AI usage, gather feedback from peers, and identify areas for improvement in your skills.
  • Goal: Demonstrate growth in AI proficiency as part of Shopify's performance expectations.
  • Timeline: Prepare for the next review cycle (3–6 months).
  • Responsible: All employees; supported by HR and peer reviewers.

Tool Exploration​

  • Action: Experiment with Shopify's latest available tools (e.g., Copilot, Claude code, Cursor).
  • Details: Test tools for specific tasks like translations, large-scale refactors, or internal process automation as highlighted by Tobi Lütke in his memo replies.
  • Goal: Stay ahead of the curve by adopting tools that deliver 10X or 100X productivity gains.
  • Timeline: Begin exploring within 1 month; continue experimenting regularly.
  • Responsible: All employees—especially developers and product teams.

Values Alignment​

  • Action: Adopt a mindset of "Be a Constant Learner" and "Thrive on Change" when integrating AI into your work.
  • Details: Treat learning new tools as an opportunity for growth while embracing rapid shifts in work practices.
  • Goal: Embed innovation into personal development while aligning with Shopify's cultural values.
  • Timeline: Start immediately; maintain this as an ongoing mindset.
  • Responsible: All employees; modeled by leadership.

Merchant Vision​

  • Action: Propose ideas on how Shopify can use AI to redefine entrepreneurship for merchants.
  • Details: Brainstorm projects that align with Shopify's roadmap (e.g., tools like Sidekick or Shopify Magic) during team discussions.
  • Goal: Help Shopify lead the way in creating an ecosystem where merchants thrive through AI augmentation.
  • Timeline: Begin ideation within 3 months; submit proposals during the next product cycle.
  • Responsible: Product teams, leadership, and all employees contributing to innovation.

Additional Notes​

  1. Support Systems: Use Shopify's infrastructure like chat.shopify.io and Slack channels (#revenue-ai-use-cases) for collaboration and learning.
  2. Leadership Involvement: Tobi emphasizes that "everyone means everyone," including executives modeling behaviors.
  3. Risk of Non-Adoption: Opting out of learning and using AI is equated to "slow-motion failure." Employees must prioritize these actions to stay competitive.
  4. High Impact Areas: Tobi notes that tasks like translations, large-scale refactors, and internal process automation have already seen ~100X speedups through effective use of AI.

Context​

  • AI Platform — The infrastructure that makes AI integration possible at scale
  • Agency — Individual capability building in an AI-augmented world
  • Work — How AI changes the definition of craft and output
  • Systems Thinking — Organizational transformation as a feedback loop

Questions​

When AI can do most of the work, what does genuine craft look like for a knowledge worker?

  • If "opting out of AI is slow-motion failure," how do you distinguish healthy skepticism from career-limiting resistance?
  • What breaks in a headcount-flat organization when AI tools fail or produce bad outputs at scale?
  • How does prompting skill become a new form of professional leverage — and who falls behind first?