Workplace AI ‘slop grenades’ are a problem, says Shopify CEO

Shopify CEO Tobias Lutke warned on a podcast that AI can make employees produce more work without checking if it is accurate or useful, resulting in what he calls “slop grenades.”

He gave an example of a person sending a lengthy AI-written email, forcing recipients to rely on large language models to summarize it again.

Despite Shopify’s aggressive adoption of artificial intelligence across its platform and workflow, Lutke cautioned against workers passing along unverified AI work.

Lutke emphasized that AI is most valuable when it sharpens human thinking, and employees retain ultimate responsibility for the output.

Shopify shares were up over 7% on Monday after it entered a partnership with Meta, allowing the Muse AI assistant to make purchases instructed by users.

Amazon, meanwhile, has denied Muse similar access this week.