In its quest to become the anti-Amazon, Shopify has long used machine learning to detect fraud, analyze data, and compare competing merchants. But now, like other big names in the industry—from comprehensive website builder Wix to content-creation-wizard Canva to professional design tool Figma—Shopify is going all-in on generative AI.
Each platform is taking a different approach to AI, but they have the same basic objective: let their users do more in less time, and without the required knowledge of how to design, code, or even strategize.
Over the last year, generative AI has become a democratizing force when it comes to accessing the power of complex software tools. It’s killing the imperative interfaces, which once required users to navigate through endless menus, and replacing them with declarative interfaces, which allow users to ask for exactly what they want in natural language.
Shopify’s founder and CEO Tobi Lütke declared that ambitious goal last week in a video presentation of Sidekick, the company’s new AI chat agent that has been designed to copilot Shopify users’ businesses. Sidekick is meant to act as advisor, shop clerk, shop designer, shop manager, and content creator, all the while learning constantly from its performance and its human boss’ actions and responses.
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