Walmart: Too Many AI Cooks In The Kitchen

Takeaways from Walmart's use of AI agents and how the company had to overhaul its strategy to simplify the user experience.

Aug 18, 2025

In a post I wrote this past May about AI Agents (“Agentic AI 007, The Supply Chain Intelligence Officer”), I shared how “it seems like in the past 18 months, when it comes to AI agents, we’ve leaped over the crawl and walk phases [of technology implementation] and have gone straight to a running sprint.”

This seems to be the case with Walmart, as reported by Isabelle Bousquette last month in the Wall Street Journal (“Why Walmart Is Overhauling Its Approach to AI Agents”). According to the article:

Using Robots to Load/Unload Trucks

A recent Wall Street Journal article highlighted how “new advances in robotics are [enabling the automation of truck loading and unloading]. Improved sensors and algorithms, advancements in AI and faster image-processing technology are making these robots proficient players in tasks that are like a game of 3-D Tetris.” This survey sought to understand industry readiness, key challenges, and opportunities associated with using robots to load or unload trucks.

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