Tobi Lütke: AI Agents, Better Decisions, and the Future of Work

About this episode

Shopify founder and CEO Tobi Lütke joins Shane Parrish to discuss AI agents, better decision-making, and the future of work. He explains how he uses an AI council to examine his hardest decisions and why taste, judgment, and responsibility become more valuable as AI becomes more capable. They go inside Shopify’s work with River, an AI colleague with memory, personality, and permission to challenge the CEO. They explore how to choose between several good options, why the best long-term decisions often lack immediate feedback, and why building something that lasts requires pruning and rebuilding. Tobi also shares how he cultivates intuition, the affirmations he uses to change his own behavior, and why his kids must add “yet” when they say they can’t do something. Enjoy! ----- Chapters: (00:00) Introduction (3:46) The Case for Skeuomorphism (5:16) How Bing's Chatbot "Sydney" Inspired Shopify's AI (7:18) River: Shopify's Internal AI (8:55) How to Encourage Osmosis Learning (10:52) AI Dreaming and Self-Reflection (11:53) How to Use AI for Strategic Decision Making (14:11) The One Thing AI Cannot Do (16:04) What AI is Making Worse at Shopify (19:46) Predictions: Where AI