Shopify launched Canvas, a site-building tool that lets merchants create stores by chatting with its AI assistant Sidekick. It renders real store code in real time, supports testing interactions and animations, previews different screen sizes, and allows direct element editing. Sidekick, previously used for writing code, building apps, and customizing themes, is now integrated for the first time into a complete store-building product.
Shopify announced WebMCP support for checkout (including Shop Pay), enabling browser-based AI agents to read and update checkout pages and submit transactions with buyer authorization, without screenshots or web scraping. Three tools — get_checkout, update_checkout, and complete_checkout — are rolling out to all eligible Shopify merchants.
Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke announced on September 21, 2026, that users will be able to shop at Shopify merchants' online stores through Meta's AI agent Muse and complete checkout via Shop Pay, aiming to simplify shopping and checkout with Muse.
In a Sept. 15, 2026 podcast interview, Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke criticized most companies for misusing AI as a way to avoid thinking, pile on features and shift responsibility, and explained how Shopify's internal AI colleague River works. He stressed that machines cannot take responsibility and that human-in-the-loop decision-making is essential, adding that taste, intuition and judgment will become humanity's scarcest assets as AI becomes widespread.