Walmart Opens Its Checkout to AI Agents While Amazon Slams the Door

Walmart will let AI shopping agents buy on behalf of customers, while Amazon blocks them, drawing a sharp line between the two retail giants.

· 2 min read ·
AI

Walmart is letting artificial intelligence agents shop and pay on behalf of customers, while Amazon is blocking them, exposing a growing split in how the world's biggest retailers handle automated buying [268397]. The move comes as AI agents spread from music and banking into everyday commerce.

Walmart's system lets AI agents make purchases for customers, with built-in controls over spending limits and transaction approvals [268397]. Amazon, by contrast, is shutting AI agents out of its site [268397].

The stakes are rising as personal AI agents gain traction. Meta's new agent, Muse, handles tasks and makes suggestions for users, and analysts say agents like it could disrupt Amazon and Apple by changing how people search for and buy products and services [268757]. Anthropic has launched Claude Duet, an agent that carries out multi-step tasks on its own but must get user approval before sending messages, making payments, signing documents, or deleting information [267921].

Other companies are placing similar bets. Spotify co-CEO Gustav Söderström said the music service wants AI agents to pick Spotify when they choose music for users [268380]. Nvidia is pushing private AI agents and open models that businesses run inside their own data centers [265991]. Japan's largest bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), is using AI to automate back-office work such as data entry and document processing while expanding its technology teams in India to cut costs [268253].

For buyers, the choice of whose agent to use is hard to undo. OpenAI, Google, and Workday all sell AI agents but disagree on where those agents should live, and once a business commits to one platform, switching later is costly [265396].

Sources

Walmart Embraces AI Shoppers as Amazon Blocks Them #268397Meta's Muse Could Reshape How We Shop — and Threaten Amazon and Apple #268757Anthropic's New AI Agent Can Act on Its Own—But Asks Before Sending Money or Messages #267921Spotify Bets on AI Agents to Pick It Over Rivals #268380Nvidia Bets Big on Private AI Agents #265991Japan's MUFG Turns to AI to Cut Costs, Shifts Back-Office Work to India #268253AI's Next Big Fight: Who Controls Your Agent? #265396

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