Why Is a Paid Shopping Assistant a Breach of Trust?

Tobi Lütke says a shopping assistant that gets paid to choose products is a breach of trust. People want agents that work for them. If the assistant pockets something like air miles for steering the order, that trust is broken. Shopify is in active conversations about more socially acceptable ways to make the connection, because merchants still have to reach the people who will buy.

He does not want AI to pile sales onto the largest companies. Department-store merchandising worked that way: the biggest packaged-goods company got the shelf, and then it got the sales. The internet, and Shopify, broke that pattern, so a product did not have to work for everyone. It could gather a thousand true fans. Once it has them, it has beaten indifference, which he calls the largest challenge in making a product.