How AI is changing software engineering at Shopify with Farhan Thawar

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In This Episode

What happens when a company goes all in on AI?

At Shopify ,engineers are expected to utilize AI tools, and they’ve been doing so for longer than most. Thanks to early access to tools like GitHub Copilot (Shopify was the first company outside of GitHub to use it), and models from OpenAI and Anthropic, the company had a head start in figuring out what works.

In this live episode from LDX3 in London. — recorded two weeks ago — I spoke with Farhan Thawar, Head of Engineering, about how Shopify is building with AI across the entire stack. We cover the company’s internal LLM proxy, its policy of unlimited token usage, and how interns help push the boundaries of what’s possible.

In this episode, we cover:

• How Shopify works closely with AI labs

• The story behind Shopify’s recent Code Red

• How non-engineering teams are using Cursor for vibe coding

• Tobi Lütke’s viral memo and Shopify’s expectations around AI

• A look inside Shopify’s LLM proxy—used for privacy, token tracking, and more

• Why Shopify places no limit on AI token spending

• Why AI-first isn’t about reducing headcount—and why Shopify is hiring 1,000 interns

• How Shopify’s engineering department operates and what’s changed since adopting AI tooling