Walmart Turns to ‘Super Agents’ to Automate ‘Pretty Much Everything’

Walmart is launching a line of “super agents” designed to help customers and workers.

The retail giant says these new tools, powered by agentic artificial intelligence (AI), will soon be the chief way people interact with Walmart, Reuters reported from an event Thursday (July 24) in New York.

“Agents can help automate and simplify pretty much everything that we do,” Walmart Chief Technology Officer Suresh Kumar said in the report, adding the company decided to debut the agents now because “customers are ready, they are using AI in pretty much everything they do.”

Walmart says the agents will serve as an entry point for every action customers, workers, sellers and suppliers have with the company, replacing a number of existing AI tools.

The report notes Walmart is counting on AI to fuel its online growth as it aims for eCommerce to make up half of its sales within five years.

In June, the company debuted “Sparky,” an AI assistant designed to customers through their shopping trips with product recommendations and budget suggestions based on past behavior.

According to Reuters, the “super agent” version of Sparky will be able to do things like reorder items, plan events and — using computer vision — offer recipe ideas by looking inside a customer’s refrigerator.

Also in the works is an “Associate” super-agent to let workers do things like submit applications for parental leave or let merchants access sales data. There’s also “Marty,” an agent designed for sellers, suppliers and advertisers, and one for developers to build future AI tools.

The report adds that Walmart declined to say whether the new agents would replace jobs. Dave Glick, senior vice president of enterprise business systems, said the agents would create new jobs but did not provide further information.

PYMNTS wrote recently about efforts by both Walmart and its competitor Amazon to protect their “retail soft spots” using AI.

“The latest strategic maneuvers from both companies, over just the past week alone, reflect not just tactical business decisions but signal a structural transformation of what it means to be a modern retailer in the 21st century,” that report said.

The same week Walmart debuted Sparky, Amazon revealed it would  spend $20 billion to construct two expansive AI and cloud data center campuses in Pennsylvania — the biggest private‑sector investment in that state’s history.

“The move aligns with Amazon’s broader commitment to AI innovation across its operational value chain,” the report said. Amazon’s delivery forecasting systems, for example, are being reengineered using machine learning models that analyze real-time logistics data, customer behavior, and weather patterns.”

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