Juan Seoane – April 20th, 2025
A few days ago, Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke shared an internal memo that quickly made headlines: from now on, Shopify will only approve new hires if it can be proven that AI can’t do the job. Moreover, using AI tools is now an expected skill for all employees — including executives — and will be considered in performance reviews.
This is not just another company adopting artificial intelligence. It’s a strategic decision that challenges how we think about human work, the role of innovation in business, and the future of employment itself.
As a professional focused on technology and artificial intelligence, I genuinely value companies that embrace innovation, pursue operational efficiencies, and adopt new tools early to deliver better results. In a highly competitive environment, integrating transformative technology can be the difference between leading a market or falling behind.
AI is no longer a futuristic concept — it’s a present-day force transforming industries. From customer service to logistics, content creation, and decision-making, AI is becoming a key ally for companies that want to scale, optimize, and improve customer experience.
In that context, Shopify’s decision makes sense. As a digital commerce leader, it must stay ahead of the curve. Ignoring this tech revolution would be strategically irresponsible.
So far, so good: innovation, vision, strategic leadership.
However, this memo isn’t just about using AI to support human work or train employees to boost performance. It goes further. It redefines the relationship between people and machines in the workplace.
The statement “we only hire when AI can’t do the job” suggests a new hiring paradigm. And in my view, it raises deeper questions: Are we moving toward a model where a person’s value is judged only in terms of how well they compete with a machine?
Conditioning hiring decisions on being “better than AI” may be based on one of two assumptions:
1. A limited understanding of AI’s exponential potential.
We are in the midst of an exponential AI wave. Models now generate code, write complex reports, analyze images, interpret documents, and even propose creative solutions. Some forecasts suggest that Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) — capable of performing intellectual tasks at or beyond human levels — could be just a few years away.
If that’s the case, where do we draw the line between what AI can and can’t do? What happens if a job today seems out of reach for AI, but that changes in six months? Will we reassess every role each time a new model is released?
This obsession with comparing human performance to that of AI systems may lead to short-sighted decisions — and a false sense of clarity in a rapidly evolving landscape.
2. A reductive view of human value in the workplace.
The other risk is treating people as mere productivity units — valuable only as long as they outperform machines. But organizations aren’t just collections of efficient tasks. They’re living systems made of creativity, collaboration, empathy, judgment, adaptability, culture, and commitment.
How do current Shopify employees feel about this policy? Doesn’t it implicitly say, you can keep your job as long as you outperform AI? What does that mean for psychological safety, morale, or company culture?
The deeper question here is: what do we mean by “human value” in an AI-powered workplace?
We’re at a pivotal moment. AI is advancing at an unstoppable pace. New models, tools, and capabilities emerge every month. But public debate, ethical frameworks, and long-term workforce strategies are lagging far behind.
Technology won’t slow down — but we can choose how we use it. And more importantly, we can choose who it’s for and what it’s meant to enable.
Companies must lead that discussion. While there are no easy answers or perfect blueprints, a few principles are clear: preserve human dignity, prevent indiscriminate replacement, foster lifelong learning, build collaborative human-AI teams, and use AI to augment human capabilities — not erase them.
That’s why Shopify’s policy shouldn’t be blindly celebrated. Instead, it should spark conversation about the kind of organizations we’re building and the future we’re shaping.
This isn’t about resisting technological progress — it’s about ensuring that progress aligns with human values. If we only measure success by efficiency, we may end up with fast companies that are empty on the inside — automated, but dehumanized.
Now is the time to ask ourselves: what kind of innovation do we want?
One that replaces people, or one that empowers them?
One that only values output, or one that also values meaning?
And in that choice lies the future of work.
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