Define "chutzpah"

Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke, April 2025:

AI acts as a multiplier. We are all lucky to work with some amazing colleagues, the kind who contribute 10X of what was previously thought possible. It’s my favorite thing about this company. And what’s even more amazing is that, for the first time, we see the tools become 10X themselves. I’ve seen many of these people approach implausible tasks, ones we wouldn’t even have chosen to tackle before, with reflexive and brilliant usage of AI to get 100X the work done.

Using AI effectively is now a fundamental expectation of everyone at Shopify. It's a tool of all trades today, and will only grow in importance. Frankly, I don't think it's feasible to opt out of learning the skill of applying AI in your craft; you are welcome to try, but I want to be honest I cannot see this working out today, and definitely not tomorrow.

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

Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke, September 2026:

“We call those ‘slop grenades’ that people toss at each other,” Lütke said in an interview on the Knowledge Project podcast. “That’s definitely a bad thing.”

The CEO further explained that the initiative incentivized workers to “go nuts” on AI, leading to a deluge of AI generated slop.

“You don’t really read it, and now it has to be reviewed by your colleagues, and they are like, ‘this doesn’t look right,'” he complained. “You’re just letting AI do the work for you.”

If you were concerned about AI mandates backfiring and about the rise of workslop in the spring of 2025, it’s because you’re a Luddite, a troglodyte, a loser. If you’re concerned about them now, it’s because you’re decisive, visionary, a winner. The main thing separating you from our greatest CEOs is that they don’t care whose lives they ruin on the way to learning self-evident things. In fact, it’s overcoming these kinds of obstacles that makes them the leaders they are.