# Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke says AI's value was hidden in floating-point math

> Original title: Shopify CEO @tobi on the AI boom:

- Source: Alex Heath
- Published: 2026-11-04T01:00:00.000Z
- Bad Influence: https://badinfluence.news/items/ytmpvo113vpjurdadt44wzt5y
- Original: https://x.com/alexeheath/status/2117783888785457182

## Summary

Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke says the AI industry has already added probably trillions in new objective value to Earth. He argues that value came from doing matrix multiplications and floating-point math much faster and in a particular way, a capability that existed for a long time before its potential was realized.

## Post

Shopify CEO @tobi on the AI boom:

"The AI industry has already added probably trillions in new objective value to Planet Earth. All that value was hiding in floating-point math.

We've had floating-point math for a very, very long time, and we knew about matrix multiplications for a very, very long time. Yet I don't think we realized that, at the limit, we could extract trillions and trillions of dollars of growth from just doing floating-point math and matrix multiplications much faster and in a particular way.

I think this is the way you have to think of everything, including resources. Before we knew what to do with uranium, we had no idea what the entire value of nuclear energy was. That value was locked behind this piece of knowledge. The second we figured out how to break the atom, suddenly there was an infinite amount of energy, and then we chose not to use it for some reason.

This is the way the world really works. We are gifted with utterly infinite potential value. Every product that could exist is out there, and there are many, many, many of them."

[Video](https://badinfluence.news/api/img-proxy?u=https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.twimg.com%2Famplify_video_thumb%2F2117719489299300352%2Fimg%2FlYYPeuIg_znexENT.jpg&mode=thumb&exp=1794009600&sig=ad9b64157b704198)

## Quoted post @alexeheath

> Tobi Lütke on the AI agent revolution and future of Shopify
> 
> @tobi on where agent commerce is headed, sci-fi becoming reality, and his GPU wine cellar.
> 
> Why did Amazon block Meta's Muse but Shopify welcomed it? I sit down with Tobi in Toronto to discuss why the companies are taking different approaches to agents and how shopping changes when AI starts buying things on your behalf.
> 
> He explains the early AI shopping behavior he’s seeing. We also get into why he thinks AI makes starting a business easier, the backlash against the technology, and why everyone will eventually have to embrace it to get ahead in their careers.
> 
> We get into how AI agents will make money, who pays when they handle a purchase, and why advertising gets complicated when your assistant is supposed to work for you. We discuss his experience on Meta’s board and working with Mark Zuckerberg.
> 
> Lütke also shares why he turned his wine cellar into a GPU server rack and how he uses his personal AI agent that runs entirely from his house.
> 
> This is one of my favorite pods I've ever done.
> 
> Timestamps:
> 00:00 Amazon blocks Muse
> 02:40 Shopify's approach to AI agents
> 07:00 How AI agents will change shopping
> 11:05 Sci-fi and tech optimism
> 17:57 Zero-sum thinking vs. abundance
> 21:20 AI backlash and the founder advantage
> 45:28 Building an AI-first Shopify
> 52:18 Who profits from agentic commerce?
> 01:03:22 How Shopify stays ahead
> 01:10:39 Advertising and discovery in the agent era
> 01:16:02 Rack, Cellar, and Claw
> 
> Links:
> Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/71xOycjYFjWEVSqhTpYPv8?si=rtVJne2kSr6L6QnAZWRGYw
> Substack: https://sourcesnews.substack.com/p/tobi-lutke-shopify-ai-agents
> YouTube: https://youtu.be/r9SHzCW9zxo
> Apple Podcasts: https://sources.news/p/tobi-lutke-shopify-ai-agents
> 
> This episode's presenting sponsor is @hyperagentapp
> Thanks to the show’s premiere sponsors: @Atlassian, @meetgranola, and @mercury

https://x.com/alexeheath/status/2115480771737854005