Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke has championed AI as a workplace essential. Now, he is putting the focus on quality and accountability, arguing that AI should sharpen human thinking rather than create more work for colleagues.
The workplace AI conversation is entering a new phase. For many companies, the question is no longer whether employees should use artificial intelligence, but what good AI use actually looks like.
Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke, one of the more vocal advocates of workplace AI adoption, has offered his own answer, and it comes with a memorable phrase.
Speaking on The Knowledge Project podcast, Lütke discussed what Shopify calls “slop grenades”: AI-generated emails, code or other work produced quickly and passed to colleagues without enough human review. The result can be an output that saves time for the person creating it while generating additional work for whoever receives it.
When AI Productivity Shifts the Work Elsewhere
Lütke’s point is not an argument against using AI. It is about recognising that speed of production and quality of work are not the same thing.
An employee might use AI to create a lengthy email in seconds, for example, only for the recipient to need another AI tool to condense it. Similarly, generating code rapidly provides limited benefit if another employee then has to spend significant time understanding or correcting it.
The lesson is particularly notable coming from Shopify.
Lütke previously told employees that effective AI use was becoming a “baseline expectation” at the company. Teams were also expected to consider whether AI could meet a need before requesting additional headcount.
His latest comments therefore represent less of a change in direction than an evolution in thinking: AI adoption needs to be accompanied by judgment.
From AI Adoption to AI Leadership
That distinction carries a useful message for executives.
During the first wave of generative AI adoption, organisations often focused on access, experimentation and productivity. As the technology becomes embedded into everyday work, leadership attention is increasingly moving towards the quality, responsibility and usefulness of AI-assisted output.
For Lütke, humans remain responsible for the final result. AI can help employees research, synthesise information and improve their thinking, but it should not become a way of transferring unfinished thinking to someone else.
That may be one of the more important leadership principles emerging from the AI workplace.
The most AI-enabled organisation will not necessarily be the one producing the greatest volume of AI-generated work. It may instead be the one where people know when to use the technology, how to improve its output and when human judgment needs to take over.
For leaders, that moves the conversation beyond simply encouraging employees to use AI. The next challenge is building a culture where they use it well.
Sources: The Knowledge Project; Shopify; Business Insider; Fortune.
