Shopify shareholders to vote on mandatory AI governance policy
Investors backing the United Church of Canada's pension plan want the e-commerce company to adopt formal safeguards; the board is urging shareholders to reject the measure.
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Shopify shareholders will vote Tuesday on whether the technology company should adopt a formal artificial intelligence policy.
The proposal is being pushed by the Shareholder Association for Research and Education on behalf of the United Church of Canada's pension plan, which holds Shopify shares. They argue that generative AI systems may negatively impact human rights, and agentic AI can cause misinformation, manipulation, and erroneous automated transactions.
"If Shopify had a policy, they say it would reassure shareholders of the company's governance and risk management controls," according to the shareholder group's filing.
Shopify's board, however, has recommended shareholders vote against the measure. The company says an AI policy is unnecessary because its contracts and terms of service already set clear guardrails on how Shopify and merchant data may be used by AI systems.
The vote comes as tech companies face mounting pressure from investors and regulators over artificial intelligence governance. Shopify, which provides e-commerce infrastructure to hundreds of thousands of businesses globally, has been integrating AI features into its platform for merchant use.