Shopify’s AI-first hiring, OpenAI in the EU, Anthropic hires in Europe: AI news roundup

There’s been lots of movement in the AI space this week, from Shopify's new AI memo to Anthropic's talent surge. Here’s a roundup of the news that’s caught our eye.

OpenAI has unveiled an ”EU Economic Blueprint” in an effort to integrate its AI technologies within Europe's regulatory and economic landscape. The blueprint follows a similar document focused on the US and published in January.

The blueprint has four main pillars, and a set of specific proposals and infrastructure goals.

Reaction to the blueprint has so far been somewhat lukewarm: A report in the German publication The Decoder noted: “The blueprint contains many demands but few concrete commitments from OpenAI.” The report also points out that while OpenAI advocates protectionist measures like strict export controls for advanced AI models in America, it pushes for market liberalisation and deregulation in Europe. Other commentators said the blueprint “seems less like a solid plan and more like wishful thinking built on shaky foundations” and predicted that some of its recommendations on regulation would likely provoke resistance from European lawmakers.

For product managers, the blueprint means that  - if they’re not already - they should be designing AI-powered products with EU compliance in mind from the outset and prioritising ethical design principles like explainability, fairness, and inclusive UX. 

Shopify teams must now demonstrate that AI cannot fulfil the required tasks before approving new hires or allocating additional resources. CEO Tobi Lütke sent a memo to employees this week - which he shared publicly - that said: "Before asking for more headcount and resources, teams must demonstrate why they cannot get what they want done using AI. What would this area look like if autonomous AI agents were already part of the team? This question can lead to really fun discussions and projects.” 

While Shopify searches for ways that AI can replace new hires, generative AI unicorn Anthropic is embarking on a European hiring push, with plans to create over 100 new positions across Europe, mainly in its Dublin and London offices. Positions will span sales, engineering, research, and business operations. ​Anthropic’s Head of EMEA, Guillaume Princen, will lead the expansion.

In answer to OpenAI’s ChatGPT Pro $200 a month subscription, Anthropic is also rolling out a $200 a month subscription plan for its Claude AI model. Called Max, Anthropic says the plan is “designed for those who collaborate with Claude extensively and need expanded access for their most important work”.

Meta is using pirated books to train its Llama 4 AI model, according to an investigation from The Atlantic, which shows the unbelievable scale of AI’s pirated books problem. According to The Atlantic, Meta initially spoke with many publishers about licensing their books but decided this would be too expensive and time-consuming and so turned to Library Genesis, one of the biggest online libraries of pirated books, containing more than 7.5 million books and 81 million research papers.