CEO Tobi Lütke published an internal memo in April 2025 mandating that teams must prove AI cannot do a task before requesting new human headcount. AI usage added to performance reviews as a mandatory metric. Workforce shrank from 11,600 (Dec 2022) to 8,100 (Dec 2024) through layoffs and attrition. Critics called it a proxy for job elimination; Lütke framed it as a productivity multiplier ("100X the work done").