Walmart to let AI agents shop on customers' behalf
US retail giant Walmart will next month let customers connect their own AI agents to its website to make purchases for them. Shoppers will be able to approve and review purchases and set spending limits.
US retailer Walmart will next month begin allowing users to connect their own artificial intelligence (AI) agents to its website. These are software tools that carry out tasks online on a person's behalf, in this case shopping. The approach contrasts with Amazon, which has blocked both Perplexity's shopping agent and Meta's Muse AI assistant.
Control over purchases
Agents will operate through new "Agent Profiles" within Walmart's system. By default, every purchase an agent makes will require the customer's approval. Users can also let an agent shop within a set budget, such as up to $100. Agent purchases can be reviewed separately from the user's own, and the agent can be switched off at any time.
Rules for agents
Walmart has set out terms for agents: they must not take actions beyond what the shopper intends, cannot change a customer's payment method, and may access only the information needed to complete their task. The company says it will block agents that do not comply.
Technical approach
Walmart has built an "Agent Gateway" that connects agents through the Model Context Protocol, an open standard that lets AI agents plug into different web services. According to the company, this lets agents shop without the hiccups they might face when navigating a browser, and also keeps them from accessing a customer's shopping history and personal information.
As an example, Walmart says that if a customer tends to buy sourdough bread or a particular brand of milk, it will help the agent find those usual items without sharing the customer's broader shopping history. Shopping with AI agents will also be available at Sam's Club, which Walmart operates.
