April 11, 2025 • 8 mins
Shopify is forcing employees to justify why AI can't do the job they want to hire
It's starting. An AI assistant is about to become your coworker. Before a new job posting can go live, it needs to be proven why AI can't do the job.
Not only that, Shopify's CEO is forcing all employees to use AI in their daily work – even baking it into performance reviews. He wants them to be more efficient and believes AI is going to do that, saying in a company-wide letter: “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.”
Shopify was the same company who deleted every recurring meeting with three or more people.
New features are coming to WhatsApp
- For groups, it'll now show how many people are currently online, make it easier to react to messages like you can on Slack, and have more controls for notifications.
- There will be updates for Events around RSVPs and plus 1s.
- High quality video calls, with the ability to pinch in to zoom on mobile.
LISTEN ABOVE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks at b.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Twenty four to eleven. Non News Talk said be our
Textbert Paul Stenhouse. Is wea US this morning, Paul, crazy
old week in your world? Have you tried buying anything
on Timu in the last few days? You're based in
the US, which means that you still have some significant
tariffs against the world's second biggest economy. Yeah, yeah, no
I haven't.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Ali Barber's Ali Barber expresses probably off limits now tours
and that those presses are we skyhig.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I mean one hundred and forty five percent is the
tariff at the moment, So basically everything wasn't yeah, two
and a half times as much as it would have
which is yeah, okay, well.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
One and a half time start.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Yeah, but have you I'm genuinely interested. Have you Have
you just gone into Timu or Amazon like, have you
noticed any difference in terms of prices yet? No?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
But you do hear stories of I mean one of
the big ones over here is cars, because you know
themarding of cars are going to be heavily tariff was
on the very first tariffs to be announced, and the
weekend that they announced it. Apparently there were just like
lines lines around the block at cars dealerships because people
want to try to get in beforehand. There are people
(01:20):
talking about like, oh maybe I should drive and buy
like the new iPhone. Then you make some of the
technology stuff maybe before you start to see some of
these tariffs, because obviously the goods that are already here
are okay, I.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Mean, I've heard this crazy this crazy story. So Apple
is one of the in terms of the tech companies
that will be hit the most because it's all about
goods rather than services, right, So it's like physical things.
And so Apple does a lot of its manufacturing in China.
Although it's tried to move things to other countries lately,
including the UNS, it still does a lot of China.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Ye.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
So apparently they tried to They had cargo planes that
they were like stuffing full of iPhones and iPads and
VR headsets, hoping that they might be able to get
those to the US before the tariffs come to effect.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
It's pretty crazy.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Yeah, six hundred tons of iPhones apparently tried to come
into the US that way. But can you imagine being
the person Apple, It's like, hey, Tim, Yeah, mister Apple,
I have a really good idea. We're gonna need planes. Yeah,
it's it's actually probably the beginning of a really good film.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Yeah, it's time to be Alive.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Someone someone said it was like the it's like those
you know, it's like seeing the Americans fleeing Vietnam. You
know that the last chopper is out of Yeah, yeah, yeah,
you know, it's kind of kind of like that. Anyway,
obviously going to be a crazy time to watch all
of that. And I reckon Apple. I know we've said
this already. My take is that I reckon We've got
to keep on watching Apple because Apple has been the
(02:49):
big player for so long now, it kind of since
the since the advent of the smartphone, Apple has dominated
the kind of tech world, and I just reckon they're
under pressure on all sorts of fronts at the moment.
Not only is their tech maybe not as good as
it was competed to its competitives, but now they've got
the tariffs to deal with as well. So yeah, under
a lot of pressure at the moment. Anyway, WhatsApp has
(03:12):
some big changes coming, and WhatsApp is increasingly becoming the
app that I think many of us use, if not
as our kind of primary form of communication, certainly right
up there as our number one messaging app. And there
are all sorts of changes coming.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Yeah, And it's funny because the messaging is one of
the things that actually keeps Apple like people sticky to
Apple right, They've got their I message groups, they like
seeing the blue bubble. It's one of the things that
the European Commission has been really fixated on trying to
get Android and iPhones to talk better. And WhatsApp is
one of those apps that really does bridge the gap.
(03:48):
And now it's getting more into the encryption game, and
it's now really trying to become I think it wants
to be almost Jack like, more than just a one
on one or like family group chat type thing. I
think it really wants to be starting to go after
the likes of the Slacks and the Discords because all
of these new feeds that are coming to WhatsApp are
really about groups. It's going to show you now how
(04:10):
many people are online and your group. It's going to
make it easier to react to messages with emoji and
if someone's already you know, added one, you can just
click and add another one like you do on teams
and like you do on slack. Right, there's going to
be more controls for notifications. Do you blast it out
to the whole group, just mention certain people. And then
they're starting to build features too, like things like events
(04:31):
you can send out RSVPs. Now you can respond with maybe.
Now you can add plus ones. So it's really trying
to move away from just being that hey, mum, got
a picture for you app and actually do more. They're
spending the big updates that they've invested in high quality
video calls. You can you'll be able to pinch to
zoom if you're on your mobile phone, just a little
like that, where they're really trying to make it, you know,
(04:54):
just a better experience.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, yeah, it'd be like welcome Murrikan. Some of those changes.
I mean I already find once really intuitive. Hey, Shopify
is now forcing employees to justify why AI can't do
the job they want to hire, which is fascinating because
this is the same company that did the whole deleting
of every recurring meeting A.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Yeah, it is. So I think this is probably the
first time we've seen one of the headlines where AI
is actually starting to replace people. You know, we've had
mentions of it. When it was the Hollywood Writers' strike,
it was oh one a of the AI's coming to
the writer's room. But the CEO of Shopify has actually
come out and sent a letter to all of his employees,
(05:35):
and first of all, it says, you're going to start
using AI in your daily work. It just like point blank,
you have to. He wants them to be more efficient.
He believes AI is going to help it do that.
And he said, I have to read this because if
you're a parent, I feel like your kids need to
be thinking about how to incorporate AI into their life,
right Because he says, frankly, I don't think it's feasible
(05:55):
to opt out of learning the skill of AI and
applying it to your craft. You are welcome to try,
but I want to be honest, I cannot see this
working out today, indefinitely, not tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
It's kind of pointed, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
So not only are they saying you've got to use
it every day, they're baking into their performance reviews, so
you'll be now assessed based on how much you're using AI.
And then they're going the absolute next step further, which
is instead of just writing a job description, before you
do that, you have to prove why the things in
the job description are not going to be able to
(06:30):
be done by the AI. So that's a massive change.
I think that's the first time we've really seen it
framed like that where it actually is starting to replace
people in companies more so than just being kind of
like a fun toy on the side or a helpful
tool or a thoughts starter or a document summarizer. It's okay, no,
(06:52):
it's actually going to apparently now start really doing things.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Have you personally noticed like a big step up in
the aid of capability of the likes of chance Because
I was just going to say, I've like, in the
last even in the last six months, the difference between
the most recent models that they've released like bare getting
very impressive. It's certain tasks, you know.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Yeah, and so the one so I use a lot
of AI in coding, so in my company, And the
thing that I've noticed is that when I sort of
started babbling with it maybe a year ago, the accuracy
was terrible, and then about six months ago it started
to actually be able to do some things relatively autonomously
(07:35):
and not mess it up too badly. Now I've just
started switching over to the new Google Large Language model,
and it's incredible. And that's the kind of benchmark I've
been seeing and using is how well can it code?
And code's good to benchmark on because it's very well
documented and you can see if it actually works. But no,
you're right, it is getting increasingly good, smarter. I think
(07:59):
I'm trying to figure out that. Yeah, it's getting smarter,
it's making less errors, it's doing things now like citing,
it's work. It's maybe hallucinating a little bit less. But
I'm scared excited to see where it goes in the
next year because it is. You can if you're a
daily user, you do notice it.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Yeah, very good, Thanks Paul, take care, catch you soon. Jack.
I shopped on Timu last night. There were no big increases,
in fact, a big discount. Yeah, but there's because you're
in New Zealand. We don't we don't have tariffs. Try
it from America. We've got one hundred and forty five
percent tariff right now. Nineteen ninety two is our text
number for
Speaker 1 (08:33):
More From Saturday Morning with Jack Tame listen live to
news Talks i'd B from nine am Saturday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks at b.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Twenty four to eleven. Non News Talk said be our
Textbert Paul Stenhouse. Is wea US this morning, Paul, crazy
old week in your world? Have you tried buying anything
on Timu in the last few days? You're based in
the US, which means that you still have some significant
tariffs against the world's second biggest economy. Yeah, yeah, no
I haven't.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Ali Barber's Ali Barber expresses probably off limits now tours
and that those presses are we skyhig.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I mean one hundred and forty five percent is the
tariff at the moment, So basically everything wasn't yeah, two
and a half times as much as it would have
which is yeah, okay, well.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
One and a half time start.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Yeah, but have you I'm genuinely interested. Have you Have
you just gone into Timu or Amazon like, have you
noticed any difference in terms of prices yet? No?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
But you do hear stories of I mean one of
the big ones over here is cars, because you know
themarding of cars are going to be heavily tariff was
on the very first tariffs to be announced, and the
weekend that they announced it. Apparently there were just like
lines lines around the block at cars dealerships because people
want to try to get in beforehand. There are people
(01:20):
talking about like, oh maybe I should drive and buy
like the new iPhone. Then you make some of the
technology stuff maybe before you start to see some of
these tariffs, because obviously the goods that are already here
are okay, I.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Mean, I've heard this crazy this crazy story. So Apple
is one of the in terms of the tech companies
that will be hit the most because it's all about
goods rather than services, right, So it's like physical things.
And so Apple does a lot of its manufacturing in China.
Although it's tried to move things to other countries lately,
including the UNS, it still does a lot of China.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Ye.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
So apparently they tried to They had cargo planes that
they were like stuffing full of iPhones and iPads and
VR headsets, hoping that they might be able to get
those to the US before the tariffs come to effect.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
It's pretty crazy.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Yeah, six hundred tons of iPhones apparently tried to come
into the US that way. But can you imagine being
the person Apple, It's like, hey, Tim, Yeah, mister Apple,
I have a really good idea. We're gonna need planes. Yeah,
it's it's actually probably the beginning of a really good film.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Yeah, it's time to be Alive.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Someone someone said it was like the it's like those
you know, it's like seeing the Americans fleeing Vietnam. You
know that the last chopper is out of Yeah, yeah, yeah,
you know, it's kind of kind of like that. Anyway,
obviously going to be a crazy time to watch all
of that. And I reckon Apple. I know we've said
this already. My take is that I reckon We've got
to keep on watching Apple because Apple has been the
(02:49):
big player for so long now, it kind of since
the since the advent of the smartphone, Apple has dominated
the kind of tech world, and I just reckon they're
under pressure on all sorts of fronts at the moment.
Not only is their tech maybe not as good as
it was competed to its competitives, but now they've got
the tariffs to deal with as well. So yeah, under
a lot of pressure at the moment. Anyway, WhatsApp has
(03:12):
some big changes coming, and WhatsApp is increasingly becoming the
app that I think many of us use, if not
as our kind of primary form of communication, certainly right
up there as our number one messaging app. And there
are all sorts of changes coming.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Yeah, And it's funny because the messaging is one of
the things that actually keeps Apple like people sticky to
Apple right, They've got their I message groups, they like
seeing the blue bubble. It's one of the things that
the European Commission has been really fixated on trying to
get Android and iPhones to talk better. And WhatsApp is
one of those apps that really does bridge the gap.
(03:48):
And now it's getting more into the encryption game, and
it's now really trying to become I think it wants
to be almost Jack like, more than just a one
on one or like family group chat type thing. I
think it really wants to be starting to go after
the likes of the Slacks and the Discords because all
of these new feeds that are coming to WhatsApp are
really about groups. It's going to show you now how
(04:10):
many people are online and your group. It's going to
make it easier to react to messages with emoji and
if someone's already you know, added one, you can just
click and add another one like you do on teams
and like you do on slack. Right, there's going to
be more controls for notifications. Do you blast it out
to the whole group, just mention certain people. And then
they're starting to build features too, like things like events
(04:31):
you can send out RSVPs. Now you can respond with maybe.
Now you can add plus ones. So it's really trying
to move away from just being that hey, mum, got
a picture for you app and actually do more. They're
spending the big updates that they've invested in high quality
video calls. You can you'll be able to pinch to
zoom if you're on your mobile phone, just a little
like that, where they're really trying to make it, you know,
(04:54):
just a better experience.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, yeah, it'd be like welcome Murrikan. Some of those changes.
I mean I already find once really intuitive. Hey, Shopify
is now forcing employees to justify why AI can't do
the job they want to hire, which is fascinating because
this is the same company that did the whole deleting
of every recurring meeting A.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Yeah, it is. So I think this is probably the
first time we've seen one of the headlines where AI
is actually starting to replace people. You know, we've had
mentions of it. When it was the Hollywood Writers' strike,
it was oh one a of the AI's coming to
the writer's room. But the CEO of Shopify has actually
come out and sent a letter to all of his employees,
(05:35):
and first of all, it says, you're going to start
using AI in your daily work. It just like point blank,
you have to. He wants them to be more efficient.
He believes AI is going to help it do that.
And he said, I have to read this because if
you're a parent, I feel like your kids need to
be thinking about how to incorporate AI into their life,
right Because he says, frankly, I don't think it's feasible
(05:55):
to opt out of learning the skill of AI and
applying it to your craft. You are welcome to try,
but I want to be honest, I cannot see this
working out today, indefinitely, not tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
It's kind of pointed, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
So not only are they saying you've got to use
it every day, they're baking into their performance reviews, so
you'll be now assessed based on how much you're using AI.
And then they're going the absolute next step further, which
is instead of just writing a job description, before you
do that, you have to prove why the things in
the job description are not going to be able to
(06:30):
be done by the AI. So that's a massive change.
I think that's the first time we've really seen it
framed like that where it actually is starting to replace
people in companies more so than just being kind of
like a fun toy on the side or a helpful
tool or a thoughts starter or a document summarizer. It's okay, no,
(06:52):
it's actually going to apparently now start really doing things.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Have you personally noticed like a big step up in
the aid of capability of the likes of chance Because
I was just going to say, I've like, in the
last even in the last six months, the difference between
the most recent models that they've released like bare getting
very impressive. It's certain tasks, you know.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Yeah, and so the one so I use a lot
of AI in coding, so in my company, And the
thing that I've noticed is that when I sort of
started babbling with it maybe a year ago, the accuracy
was terrible, and then about six months ago it started
to actually be able to do some things relatively autonomously
(07:35):
and not mess it up too badly. Now I've just
started switching over to the new Google Large Language model,
and it's incredible. And that's the kind of benchmark I've
been seeing and using is how well can it code?
And code's good to benchmark on because it's very well
documented and you can see if it actually works. But no,
you're right, it is getting increasingly good, smarter. I think
(07:59):
I'm trying to figure out that. Yeah, it's getting smarter,
it's making less errors, it's doing things now like citing,
it's work. It's maybe hallucinating a little bit less. But
I'm scared excited to see where it goes in the
next year because it is. You can if you're a
daily user, you do notice it.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Yeah, very good, Thanks Paul, take care, catch you soon. Jack.
I shopped on Timu last night. There were no big increases,
in fact, a big discount. Yeah, but there's because you're
in New Zealand. We don't we don't have tariffs. Try
it from America. We've got one hundred and forty five
percent tariff right now. Nineteen ninety two is our text
number for
Speaker 1 (08:33):
More From Saturday Morning with Jack Tame listen live to
news Talks i'd B from nine am Saturday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.