AI Job Displacement Is Already Here

Tobi Lütke, CEO of Shopify, recently posted a letter to employees announcing a reduction in internal meetings and an AI restructuring initiative. Buried in that announcement was a sentence that hit like a cold splash of water:

“Before asking for more Headcount and resources, teams must demonstrate why they cannot get what they want done using AI.”

There it is: the quiet part, said out loud. AI job displacement isn’t some future scenario. It’s already happening at one of the most tech-forward companies in the world.

The disruption is upon us. AI will bring benefits, efficiencies, and entirely new opportunities. But it will also come with real costs. One of those is job loss, and as Shopify’s CEO makes clear, that phase has already begun.

Deep Dive – AI Update (Video)

Apologies for this Deep Dive video coming out so late after the original meeting back in January…!

There were lots of good exchanges and good participation from Early Access Labs members in these 50-or-so minutes, as AI remains a fast-evolving topic right up to this day. … This is a post for the MacSparky Labs Early Access members. Care to join? If you’re already a member, you can log in here.

Announcing the MacSparky Labs Sessions

When I was first learning to play jazz, I found the best way to improve wasn’t reading a book or even practicing alone. It was showing up to jam sessions with other musicians. That’s where the real learning happened — by listening, experimenting, and playing off one another.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about that experience in relation to the Labs and all the knowledge we collectively share as members. There’s so much insight, experience, and curiosity here — and I’d like to create more space for it to come to life.

So I’m adding something new to the Labs.
… This is a post for MacSparky Labs members only. Care to join? If you’re already a member, you can log in here.

Claude Adds Web Search

Because I cover Artificial Intelligence so much in the MacSparky Labs, I currently have paid accounts for all three of the big services: Google’s Gemini, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and Anthropic’s Claude. Of the three, I’ve always had a soft spot for Claude. I like the way it thinks; its tone, reasoning, and writing style just seem to resonate with me.

That said, for a long time, Claude had a pretty significant Achilles heel: no web access. You’d ask it something timely or specific, and it would give you a polite shrug.

That changed last week when Anthropic added web search to Claude as a beta feature. I’ve had it turned on since the announcement using Claude 3.7 Sonnet, and it’s made a significant difference.

Just yesterday, I was researching local contractors to help with some fire-hardening improvements on my home. I asked Claude to assist, and it actually delivered solid, relevant results from the web. This is the kind of query that would have stumped Claude a month ago.

The feature feels early — definitely “beta” — but it’s also entirely usable. It’s fast, the results are helpful, and most importantly, Claude now feels like it’s playing in the same league as its competitors when it comes to real-world usefulness.

One thing to note: web search isn’t turned on by default. You’ll need to dive into Claude’s settings to enable it. But if you’re a Claude user, it’s absolutely worth flipping that switch.

DEVONthink 4 Brings Thoughtful AI Integration (Sponsor)

DEVONtechnologies has just released the public beta of DEVONthink 4, and it’s a substantial upgrade. Now the beta is officially here.

I’ve been using the beta, and I can confirm: this is a real leap forward. DEVONthink 4 is smarter, faster, and more modern in all the right ways. They’ve taken everything that made DEVONthink 3 great and brought it into 2025 with a thoughtful touch, especially when it comes to Artificial Intelligence.

And really, that’s no surprise. DEVONthink was using AI before AI was a buzzword. Now with version 4, they’ve taken it up a notch: integrating modern large language models like ChatGPT and Claude, enabling natural language search, tagging, summarizing, and even interactive document conversations. And you get to decide whether to use local or cloud-based models. It’s a smart, privacy-conscious approach that fits the DEVONthink ethos perfectly.

Beyond AI, DEVONthink 4 introduces versioning, audit-proof databases, a redesigned web interface for teams, enhanced automation tools, and a new license model that makes future upgrades easier to manage.

You can download the public beta and give it a try yourself. If you already own DEVONthink 3, there are upgrade paths available, including a free upgrade if you bought it recently.

This update feels exactly like what you’d expect from the DEVONthink team: powerful, modern, and built with care.