Inside Shopify's AI strategy with CTO Mikhail Parakhin

Shopify's CTO on how Shopify uses Claude: unlimited tokens for everyone, always the largest model, and a digital twin of the company. In this conversation with Boris, Shopify's CTO explains why the real value of working with Claude is in building things that weren't possible before. He describes solving a problem he'd worked on for seven years, how Shopify built a digital twin of the company, and the unique barbell strategy he recommends for getting the most out of Claude. Have a question? Let us know in the comments. Learn more about Claude Code: https://claude.com/claude-code Chapters 0:00 How Shopify's CTO raises the ceiling with Claude 2:07 Measuring AI ROI and engineering productivity 3:32 Why Shopify gives every engineer unlimited tokens 4:42 Building a digital twin to predict merchant growth 7:28 AI for managing engineering teams 9:41 Advice for CTOs: the barbell token strategy

Mikhail ParakhinguestBorishost

Oct 8, 202612mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: October 8, 2026
Duration: 12m
Channel: Claude
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Shopify's CTO on how Shopify uses Claude: unlimited tokens for everyone, always the largest model, and a digital twin of the company. In this conversation with Boris, Shopify's CTO explains why the real value of working with Claude is in building things that weren't possible before. He describes solving a problem he'd worked on for seven years, how Shopify built a digital twin of the company, and the unique barbell strategy he recommends for getting the most out of Claude. Have a question? Let us know in the comments. Learn more about Claude Code: https://claude.com/claude-code Chapters 0:00 How Shopify's CTO raises the ceiling with Claude 2:07 Measuring AI ROI and engineering productivity 3:32 Why Shopify gives every engineer unlimited tokens 4:42 Building a digital twin to predict merchant growth 7:28 AI for managing engineering teams 9:41 Advice for CTOs: the barbell token strategy

SPEAKERS

Mikhail Parakhin
guest
CTO at Shopify discussing the company’s AI/LLM strategy and engineering productivity measurement.
Boris
host
Host/interviewer who asks structured questions about Shopify’s AI strategy and closes the interview.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Claude, featuring Mikhail Parakhin and Boris, Inside Shopify's AI strategy with CTO Mikhail Parakhin explores shopify’s CTO on using big models to raise the ceiling Mikhail Parakhin explains Shopify’s AI philosophy as maximizing “ceiling-raising” breakthroughs—capabilities that were previously impossible—rather than only automating routine work.

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