Have you seen this memo that Tobi Lütke just shared internally at Shopify?
“Prove that AI can’t do it."

"From now on, all headcount requests at Shopify must begin with an automation assessment. If you want to hire a human, you must first prove that AI cannot do the job. AI proficiency will now be part of performance reviews. Managers are expected to redesign workflows with automation as the starting assumption—not the afterthought."

If I were a brand right now, I wouldn’t try to sound human. I’d be human.
That would shape how I speak, how I listen, how I show up, and how I lead.
Not just outwardly, but at every level, from the inside out.

I don’t think it has to be a zero-sum game between AI and humanity. If anything, this moment is a test of first-principles thinking. Instead of getting caught up in surface-level trends, brands should strip everything down to what’s fundamentally true. At its core, a great brand isn’t just a machine pushing products. It’s a living, evolving thing, shaped by the people it serves.

It’s called first principles thinking, and it’s the mindset behind some of the biggest innovations in the world. Have you heard of it?
The idea is simple: instead of doing things the way they’ve always been done, you break problems down to their most basic truths and build solutions from the ground up.