Mandating AI is easy. Supporting people to use it well? That’s the real work.

Last week, Tobi Lütke, CEO of Shopify, released a company-wide memo—initially leaked and then shared publicly—that sent a clear and powerful message: using AI "reflexively" is now a baseline expectation for all Shopify employees. The tone? Bold, urgent, forward-looking. The directive? Everyone, from entry-level staff to the executive team, must learn and use AI tools as an integrated part of their daily workflow.

For some, it’s an inspiring call to action. For others—especially those in People & Culture, HR, and L&D—it’s an alarm bell.

Let’s talk about the future this memo hints at: one where AI is not just encouraged, but expected. And let’s get real about what happens when leaders demand innovation without investing in education, context, or support to use these tools wisely.

What’s Powerful About This Message

Let’s start by acknowledging what Shopify is getting right.

Tobi is absolutely correct: AI is a multiplier. Those who are already curious, iterative, and self-directed are flying right now, turning one-person workflows into what previously took teams. The memo frames AI as an opportunity for autonomy, accelerated learning, and next-level productivity. It emphasizes curiosity, courage, and tinkering.

From a leadership lens, the clarity is refreshing. Tobi’s not dancing around this: if you’re not learning AI, you’re falling behind. This directness is something more companies will have to embrace as AI alters business.

What’s the Catch? Expectation Without Enablement Is a Risk

There’s a critical tension here, but one HR leaders are uniquely equipped to understand. When a CEO says, “AI usage is a baseline expectation,” without simultaneously announcing new learning and development programs, performance support tools, or psychological safety for experimentation, what are we really saying to employees?

We're saying: “Figure it out, or get left behind.”

We’re also saying: “This is your responsibility, but we’re not necessarily going to meet you where you are.”

That creates risk. Not just operational risk, but human risk. Equity risk. Psychological risk.

Because AI is not like other tools. It isn’t Excel. It isn’t Slack. It’s not even Python. It’s a paradigm shift in how we think, create, and decide. It raises new questions around bias, intellectual property, data ethics, trust, and mental health. If HR and L&D aren’t proactively addressing those layers, we’re setting people up to fail—quietly, or loudly.

HR’s Role in the Wake of This Memo

Here’s where this gets practical: If you're in HR or People & Culture and your leadership team just dropped a memo like this, what do you do next?

1. Assess Readiness—Not Just Skill Start by mapping your team’s current comfort levels with AI. Don’t assume everyone is starting from the same place. Do an simple walkabout your halls and talk to employees, send an anonymous pulse survey or run internal focus groups. Ask questions like:

• Have you used GenAI tools at work? How frequently?
• Do you feel confident in prompt crafting, context loading, or evaluating AI outputs?
• Do you know when not to use AI?

2. Build a Laddered Learning Strategy Not everyone will "tinker" for fun. Some need structured on-ramps. HR and L&D must design a ladder of learning:

• Foundational: What is AI? How does it work? What are the risks?
• Functional: How do we use AI in our workflows? (e.g. writing, coding, designing, customer service)
• Strategic: When should I not use AI? What are the red flags? What’s our company’s position on AI ethics, privacy, and accountability?

3. Create “Safe-to-Try” Zones Innovation doesn’t come from fear. Employees need spaces where it’s okay to mess up. That could look like:

• Monthly “Prompt Jam” sessions where teams experiment and share results - we called these “FrAIdays” at one client I work with.
• Internal AI champions who offer office hours
• A Slack channel dedicated to AI tips, fails, and wins

4. Redefine Performance in the Age of AI If your organization is adding AI usage to performance reviews—as Shopify plans to—you need to redefine what good looks like. Is it frequency of use? Creativity in prompting? Strategic judgment?

Performance frameworks must reward experimentation, not just results. They should distinguish between mastering the tool and understanding when to use it. That’s nuance... definitely in HR’s wheelhouse.

5. Keep Equity Front and Center Not everyone has the same access to AI experience. Digital fluency is still unequally distributed. Neurodiverse employees may experience different reactions to AI outputs. Marginalized groups may face higher risk of bias from AI systems trained on unrepresentative data.

Your AI enablement strategy must include:

• Inclusive access to tools (across functions, geographies, and seniority)
• Explicit conversations about bias and fairness
• Transparent feedback loops for people to flag issues safely

What This Says About Future Leadership

Tobi’s memo might be about Shopify, but let’s be clear—it sets a tone other companies will follow. And that tone raises the bar for future leaders.

We’re moving into an era where leaders can no longer simply use technology—they have to teach it, contextualize it, and steward its impact. The best leaders won’t just demand AI adoption. They’ll ask:

• Have I created the conditions for meaningful experimentation?
• Have I modeled responsible use?
• Have I supported emotional and ethical fluency alongside technical skill?
• Have I created an environment where people are growing, not just grinding?

Leaders who can’t answer “yes” to those questions may find their teams burning out, tuning out, or quietly checking out.

What’s Next for the Rest of Us?

If you’re in HR, you have a unique window of opportunity right now. You can be the bridge between visionary AI strategy and real human learning. You can ensure AI fluency isn’t just a top-down mandate, but a bottom-up movement.

Start by asking:

• How are we equipping our people to meet this moment? (Pssst: I can help here)
• What does “good AI usage” look like in our context?
• Where are we unintentionally leaving people behind?
• And how can we, as HR leaders, role model curiosity, courage, and care in a time of massive transformation?

Let’s Lead Better

Shopify’s memo signals the start of a new chapter: one where AI isn’t optional. But if we want to write this chapter well, we need to be honest about what adoption really requires.

HR isn’t just a stakeholder in this shift—we’re the stewards of it.

Meet the moment and lead with integrity. Let’s make sure everyone is equipped to thrive, not just survive with AI in the new workfuture.

Theresa Fesinstine is the Founder of peoplepower.ai and a 25+ year Executive Leader in People and Culture. She is a LinkedIn Top Voice in Artificial Intelligence, received her Certificate in AI for Business Strategy from MIT in early 2023, and is a proud Adjunct Professor of AI in Business and HR Management at CUNY's City College of New York.

She works with companies of all sizes and industries, in fact, being agnostic allows her to widen the berth of her mission.

Theresa's first book, People Powered by AI: A Playbook for HR Leaders Ready to Shape the New World of Work is available on Amazon for pre-orders and will be available in April 2025. Link to pre-order: People, Powered by AI

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