Walmart Just Made a Powerful Announcement. Here’s How It Will Change Things for Customers

In January, I got up before the crack of dawn on a Sunday to hear John Furner, the CEO of Walmart’s U.S. business, speak in Manhattan.

The theme, although I didn’t know it ahead of time: artificial intelligence.

At the time, my takeaway was this: “Businesses is bullish on AI. But customers and workers are still leery.”

But just 10 months later, Walmart apparently believes things have changed already.

Yesterday, Walmart announced that it’s partnering with OpenAI so that customers can buy things directly from Walmart through ChatGPT.

Doug McMillon, Walmart’s CEO, put it pretty directly:

“For many years now, eCommerce shopping experiences have consisted of a search bar and a long list of item responses. That is about to change.”

How it works

Over the next few months, ChatGPT users in the U.S. will be able to buy almost everything from Walmart’s website directly in the chat interface. (Notable exception, apparently: fresh food).

They’ll still get Walmart+ perks like free shipping.

ChatGPT already lets you buy from Etsy sellers and will soon add Shopify merchants. But Walmart is different just because of its pure scale and size.

Also, when it first rolled out, OpenAI’s Instant Checkout feature only handled single-item purchases. But that’s obviously going to expand.

Big picture

Walmart says it’s used AI to cut fashion production timelines by up to 18 weeks and improve customer service resolution times by up to 40%.

They’ve also rolled out ChatGPT Enterprise to teams across the company and are training employees on OpenAI certifications.

And they built their own AI shopping assistant called Sparky for the Walmart app.

The partnership makes sense for ChatGPT, too. Consider:

• Walmart’s range. If you’re planning a camping trip or restocking your pantry, you don’t want to talk to five different chatbots.
• OpenAI’s reach. ChatGPT has 800 million weekly active users as of September 2025. The friction isn’t “will people use chatbots” — it’s “will they trust chatbots to complete purchases.” Walmart’s helps with that.
• The fee structure. OpenAI charges companies a fee for transactions completed through ChatGPT, which Walmart didn’t disclose. But this gives OpenAI a genuine revenue stream beyond subscriptions, and it gives Walmart access to a new sales channel where customers are already hanging out.

Of course, every new answer brings with it more questions:

What happens when the AI recommends the wrong thing? When it “anticipates your needs” in a way that feels creepy instead of helpful?

Will people realize they’re spending more because impulse buying through chat is easier than clicking through a cart?

Also, if AI becomes the primary interface for shopping, whoever controls the AI controls what gets recommended. That’s a lot of power.

At least with human searching, you can see the results and make your own choice. In a chat interface, you’re trusting the AI to surface the best options.

How transparent will that process be?

The bottom line

If you run a business that sells products — especially if you sell through Walmart or other major retailers — this should get your attention.

And if you’re a consumer? Well, you might want to start thinking about whether you’re comfortable with AI making shopping decisions on your behalf.

McMillon says Walmart’s approach is “people-led and tech-powered.”

As he put it in a recent interview: “Until we’re serving humanoid robots and they have the ability to spend money, we’re serving people. We are going to put people in front of people.”

That’s the balance Walmart needs to strike using AI to handle transactions while keeping human connection at the center.

Will it be better than what we have now?

At the pace this is all moving, I think we’ll find out soon.