Walmart announces controls for AI agents shopping on customers’ behalf
Agent Profiles are due next month, giving Walmart shoppers a way to authorize AI assistants, review their purchases and set spending limits.
Walmart announced on October 21 that it is opening its US shopping systems to AI agents that can search for products and complete purchases for customers. Reuters reported that the retailer has launched an Agent Gateway, while account controls called Agent Profiles are scheduled to roll out next month. The changes could let shoppers delegate purchases while retaining control over what an agent spends.
How Walmart’s Agent Profiles will work
The planned profiles will let customers authorize individual AI agents within their Walmart accounts and see those agents’ purchases separately from their own orders, according to Reuters. Shoppers will be able to require approval for every transaction or set a spending limit. The Verge gave an example of a $100 limit; it reported that approval for all agent purchases will be the default.
Customers will be able to revoke an agent’s access at any time, Reuters reported. The company said the tools will be available to all Walmart account holders without a Walmart+ membership. The profiles are planned for next month, so those customer controls are not yet described as available.
What the Agent Gateway allows
The Walmart Agent Gateway connects assistants directly to Walmart and Sam’s Club systems to find products and complete purchases, Reuters reported. It named OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Meta’s Muse as examples of assistants that can connect. The Verge reported that the connection uses the Model Context Protocol, a standard for linking agents with online services.
Walmart says agents must stay within a shopper’s instructions and cannot change the customer’s payment method. Reuters reported that agents will be barred from payment-card data and that Walmart can block those that break its rules. Those restrictions matter when an assistant is allowed to move beyond product searches and place an order.
The retailer also says the Gateway limits what an agent can see. In an example reported by The Verge, Walmart could help an agent find a customer’s usual bread or milk without sharing the customer’s broader shopping history. That describes Walmart’s intended handling of customer information, rather than a reported test of the system.
The opening marks a different approach from Amazon’s efforts to restrict third-party shopping agents, as both Reuters and The Verge reported. Walmart’s next step is the planned rollout of Agent Profiles, which would give customers a way to manage each agent’s shopping authority inside their account.
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Sources and context
- Walmart is inviting AI agents to shop for youThe Verge
- Walmart launches tools for AI agents to shop for customersReuters, republished by Channel NewsAsia
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.