Verified
Walmart
Scaling- Retail
- ~2.1M associates
- $713B revenue (FY2026)
- Element, built in-house
- 900,000+ weekly assistant users (2025)
- ~200 AI agents
Walmart deploys AI on Element, a platform it built in 2022 that runs across Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and its own data centers, with about 200 agents grouped under four super agents. Walmart's store associates get AI tools in the associate app, whose assistant had more than 900,000 weekly users in Jun 2025, while corporate staff use My Assistant, ChatGPT Enterprise, Claude and the in-house Code Puppy. EVP Daniel Danker and Global CTO Suresh Kumar own AI at Walmart, which has published returns only for named uses.
corporate.walmart.comTheir approach to AI
- The platform
- Element, which Walmart built in 2022, carries every associate AI tool, from My Assistant for corporate staff to the WIBEY developer agent, and Code Puppy lets associates outside engineering build their own tools (2023 to 2026).
- The models
- Walmart uses OpenAI models through Azure OpenAI and ChatGPT Enterprise, Anthropic's Claude, its own Wallaby retail LLMs and open models, and Element sends each task to the best model for the cost (2024 to 2026).
- The reach
- More than 900,000 Walmart associates used its conversational assistant each week in Jun 2025, and AI tools in the associate app reach about 1.5 million U.S. store associates.
- The catch
- Walmart has not published a firm-level AI return: Doug McMillon said in Aug 2025 that AI was not yet lifting sales, and Walmart capped Code Puppy tokens per employee in Jun 2026 after usage outran expectations.
Snapshot
- Employees
- ~2.1 million
- About 1.6 million in the U.S. and 0.5 million elsewhere, Jan 31, 2026 (FY2026 Form 10-K)
- Technology budget
- Not disclosed
- FY2027 capital spending plan of $25-27B focuses on technology, supply chain and customer-facing initiatives
- Who owns AI
- Daniel Danker, EVP
- AI Acceleration, Product and Design, on the Executive Council; Global CTO Suresh Kumar runs the platforms
- Platform
- Element, built in-house
- Launched 2022; agent catalog, MCP and A2A support added Aug 2025
- Models
- OpenAI, Anthropic, Wallaby
- LLM-agnostic by design; open models chosen by performance and cost
- Reach
- 900,000+ weekly users
- Associate conversational assistant, Jun 2025; AI tools for about 1.5 million U.S. store associates
- Use cases
- ~200 agentsest.
- Task-specific agents behind four super agents, Aug 2025
Key findings
Walmart builds its AI on Element, an in-house platform launched in 2022 that draws compute from Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure or Walmart's own data centers and picks models by performance and cost, and Walmart says every associate AI tool it announced in Jun 2025 runs on Element.
Walmart's conversational assistant for associates had more than 900,000 weekly users and over 3 million queries a day in Jun 2025, when Walmart added AI task management and real-time translation in 44 languages to the associate app for about 1.5 million U.S. store associates.
Code Puppy, Walmart's in-house vibe coding tool, grew from about 1,000 users to nearly 75,000 between Aug 2025 and Aug 2026, about half of them outside engineering, and Walmart capped each employee's tokens in Jun 2026 after usage outran expectations.
Walmart has published returns for three named uses, about 4 million developer hours saved by coding tools in 2024, refrigeration maintenance spend down 19% with digital twins in 2024 and more than $55 million saved by self-healing inventory (Jul 2025), but no firm-level figure, and Doug McMillon said in Aug 2025 that AI was not yet lifting sales.
Walmart said in Sep 2025 that it expects headcount to stay flat at about 2.1 million for three years as AI reshapes roles, and Suresh Kumar said in Sep 2026 that Walmart's May 2026 cut of about 1,000 technology roles came from merging duplicated teams onto shared platforms, not from AI.
Where Walmart sits
- Stage
- Scaling
Walmart sits at Scaling: AI tools built on its Element platform reach about 1.5 million U.S. store associates, about 200 task-specific agents sit behind four super agents (Aug 2025), and named executives own AI, Daniel Danker for AI acceleration and Global CTO Suresh Kumar for the platform. Walmart falls short of Embedded on two tests: it reports no firm-level financial effect of AI, with Doug McMillon saying in Aug 2025 that AI was not yet lifting sales, and its largest weekly usage figure, more than 900,000 users of the associate assistant in Jun 2025, is under half of its 2.1 million associates. Donna Morris also said in Apr 2026 that most Walmart jobs will see some shaping from AI, not fundamental reshaping.
How the stages are defined - Ownership
- EVP AI Acceleration Daniel Danker, on the Executive Council; Global CTO Suresh Kumar runs the platform
- Platform
- Hybrid: Element built in-house; ChatGPT Enterprise and Claude bought
- Models
- OpenAI, Anthropic and Walmart's own Wallaby LLMs, chosen by task and cost
- Hosting
- Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Walmart's own data centers, plus edge computing in stores; ChatGPT Enterprise and Claude are vendor-hosted
- Reach
- 900,000+ weekly assistant users (Jun 2025)
How they deploy
Build the platform, partner for models
Walmart builds its own AI platform, Element, and its own agents, and buys models and assistants from partners. Greg Penner wrote in the Apr 2026 proxy that Walmart is deciding when to build proprietary technology and when to rely on its technology partners, and that the board judges AI and automation spending by return on investment. John David Rainey said in Feb 2026 that Walmart is approaching AI development through partnerships, John Furner named OpenAI and Alphabet as partners on the same call, and David Glick said in Feb 2025 that he leans toward building AI in-house for control and integration.
Super agents over scattered tools
Suresh Kumar wrote in Jul 2025 that Walmart chose one company-wide framework for agents instead of individual tools: four super agents, Sparky for customers, an associate agent, Marty for suppliers, sellers and advertisers, and a developer agent that became WIBEY. SiliconANGLE reported in Aug 2025 that about 200 task-specific agents sit behind the super agents, owned by domain teams and registered in Element so other teams can find and reuse them.
Build once, scale across countries
Walmart is moving AI and technology onto shared platforms for all its segments. John Furner said in Jan 2026 that Walmart is centralizing its platforms to share capabilities as AI reshapes retail, and a May 2026 memo from Suresh Kumar and Daniel Danker merged the technology and product design teams of Walmart U.S., Sam's Club and International. Kumar said in Sep 2026 that WIBEY cut the time to roll one feature across Walmart U.S., Sam's Club, Mexico and Canada from six or seven months to several weeks.
Growth first
Walmart says it wants AI to grow sales as well as cut cost. Doug McMillon said in Aug 2025 that Walmart is biased toward growth in AI but that AI was not yet lifting sales, and Daniel Danker said in Mar 2026 that growth is a more interesting use of AI than efficiency and is how he prioritizes work. John Furner said in May 2026 that Walmart is becoming AI native and in Aug 2026 that AI will improve nearly every part of the business.
Associates build their own tools
Walmart wants associates outside engineering to build with AI. John Furner's 2026 shareholder letter points to a vibe coding platform where associates develop their own solutions, and Code Puppy reached nearly 75,000 lifetime users by Aug 2026, about half of them merchants, supply chain staff, store managers and hourly associates. Walmart also created an agent builder role to make AI tools for merchants (Sep 2025) and offers free AI certifications from Google and OpenAI to associates.
- Deployment model
- Walmart runs AI as shared platforms built by Global Technology under Global CTO Suresh Kumar, with product direction from Daniel Danker's AI Acceleration, Product and Design organization, which sits on the Executive Council. Element hosts the models, agents and apps; four super agents sit in front of about 200 task-specific agents that domain teams own and register through MCP and A2A (Aug 2025). Since May 2026, Walmart U.S., Sam's Club and International share one technology and product organization, and associates outside engineering build their own tools in Code Puppy under a per-employee token allowance (Jun 2026).
- Model providers
- Walmart's first associate generative AI tool, My Assistant, combined Walmart data with large language models on Microsoft's Azure OpenAI Service (Jan 2024). Walmart began rolling out ChatGPT Enterprise to teams in Oct 2025, and Bloomberg reported in Jun 2026 that staff can also use Anthropic's Claude and ChatGPT alongside in-house tools. Walmart trains its own retail LLMs, Wallaby, on decades of Walmart data and combines them with other LLMs (Oct 2024). Parvez Musani, then Walmart's SVP of stores and online pickup and delivery technology, said in Jun 2025 that Element is built to be agnostic to LLMs so Walmart can pick the best one at the lowest cost, and Code Puppy, built on the Pydantic AI library, works with dozens of models from different suppliers (Aug 2026). Walmart's Google partnership covers shopping in Gemini (Jan 2026) and a Google AI certificate for associates (Feb 2026); no source confirms Gemini models inside Walmart's internal tools.
- Data and infrastructure
- Walmart runs a hybrid cloud it calls the triplet model: in each U.S. region, two public clouds and Walmart's own data centers, plus edge computing in stores and clubs (Mar 2024, Sep 2025). Element draws compute and storage from Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure or Walmart's own data centers, uses GPU-powered notebooks fed by a data lake, and runs on Kubernetes (2024 to 2025); Walmart said Element cut the time to put a model into production from a couple of weeks to under an hour (Mar 2024). Donna Morris said in Apr 2026 that information in the public domain can go to an external LLM, while Walmart-specific data stays in Walmart's internal data lake under the same role-based access rules Walmart used before AI.
Platforms and internal tools
Element2022
Element is Walmart's in-house, cloud-agnostic and model-agnostic platform for building and running AI, built on Kubernetes and drawing on Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure or Walmart's own data centers. Walmart refitted Element for agents in Aug 2025 with memory, tool calling, an agent catalog with built-in guardrails, support for MCP and A2A, and tracing of decision paths and tool use, and Walmart says all of its associate AI tools announced in Jun 2025 run on Element.
- Users
- Tools built on Element reach about 1.5 million associates (Jun 2025)
- Models
- LLM-agnostic; open models chosen by performance and cost
My AssistantSummer 2023
My Assistant drafts, summarizes and brainstorms for Walmart's corporate associates using Walmart data and large language models on Microsoft's Azure OpenAI Service. Donna Morris said Walmart took the tool from vision to viable in about 60 days, and Walmart extended it to associates in 11 countries in 2024.
- Users
- About 50,000 at launch; about 25,000 more outside the U.S. expected in 2024
- Models
- Azure OpenAI Service LLMs with Walmart data
AI tools in the associate appJun 2025
Walmart's associate app carries AI task management, real-time translation in 44 languages, a conversational assistant that associates have used for about five years, and the VizPick augmented reality tool for finding stock, for store associates in the U.S.
- Users
- 900,000+ weekly assistant users and about 1.5 million store associates with access (Jun 2025)
Code PuppyBy Aug 2025
Code Puppy is Walmart's in-house AI coding agent, built on the Pydantic AI library, that lets associates build dashboards, automations and small apps, from spreadsheets to presentations. Walmart moved Code Puppy from unlimited use to a fixed token allowance per employee in Jun 2026, and its creator left for Pydantic in Aug 2026 with the tool continuing under his former team.
- Users
- Nearly 75,000 lifetime (Aug 2026)
- Models
- Dozens of models from several suppliers
WIBEYAug 2025
WIBEY is Walmart's super agent for engineers, an invocation layer built on Element that interprets a request and routes it to registered agents, tools and internal APIs from Slack, the command line or Visual Studio, and generates starter kits for new projects.
WallabyOct 2024
Wallaby is a series of retail-specific large language models trained on decades of Walmart data, used mainly for customer-facing experiences and combined with other LLMs.
- Models
- Walmart-trained
Super agentsJul 2025
Walmart's super agent framework puts one entry point in front of many agents for each audience: Sparky for customers, an associate agent for staff, Marty for suppliers, sellers and advertisers, and WIBEY for developers.
Agent GatewayOct 2026
Agent Gateway is an MCP server, in invitation-only beta, through which approved outside AI agents search Walmart and Sam's Club inventory and buy for shoppers, with a profile and spending limit for each agent.
Vendors and partners
OpenAIOct 2025
ChatGPT Enterprise for teams, OpenAI Certifications for associates, and Instant Checkout in ChatGPT · Walmart built My Assistant on Microsoft's Azure OpenAI Service in 2023, and OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar chairs Walmart's Technology and eCommerce Committee.
Microsoft2018
Azure cloud under Element and Azure OpenAI Service behind My Assistant · Microsoft described itself in Jan 2024 as one of Walmart's preferred and strategic cloud providers under a partnership set up in 2018.
Google
Google Cloud under Element, shopping in Gemini, and the Google AI Professional Certificate for associates · Walmart opened the eight-hour Google AI Professional Certificate to 1.6 million associates in the U.S. and Canada in Feb 2026, and the Gemini shopping partnership was announced in Jan 2026.
AnthropicBy Jun 2026
Claude available to Walmart staff · Bloomberg reported in Jun 2026, citing people familiar with the matter, that Walmart staff can use Claude and ChatGPT alongside in-house tools; Walmart has not announced terms.
Leadership
AI, data and platform leaders
Executives
Board
AI org map
Central technology and AI platform under the Global CTO, an AI acceleration and product executive on the Executive Council, and one shared technology organization for Walmart U.S., Sam's Club and International since May 2026
Walmart created two AI executive roles in Jul 2025: EVP of AI Acceleration, Product and Design, filled by Daniel Danker, who reported to Doug McMillon, and EVP of AI Platforms, reporting to Global CTO Suresh Kumar, for which no appointment has been announced. Suresh Kumar's organization holds Walmart's technologists across all segments plus shared services, data, cloud, infrastructure and information security, and a May 2026 memo from Kumar and Danker merged the technology and product design teams of Walmart U.S., Sam's Club and International into one shared platform.
Walmart's AI work sits mainly in Global Technology, a tech team of more than 35,000 people (Donna Morris, Apr 2026) with most teams in Bentonville and California and a technology center in India, where Walmart's catalog defect detection work began. Walmart has not disclosed how many of those people work on AI or machine learning. AI building has also spread beyond engineering: Code Puppy had nearly 75,000 lifetime users by Aug 2026, about half of them merchants, supply chain staff, store managers and hourly associates, and Walmart created an agent builder role for merchandising in 2025.
Reporting lines
President and CEO
AI Acceleration, Product and Design
Daniel Danker, EVP
Reported to the CEO at Danker's Aug 2025 hire; leads AI acceleration, product management and design across Walmart
Global Technology
Suresh Kumar, Global CTO and Chief Development Officer
Executive Council member; the line to the CEO is inferred, not published
AI Platforms
EVP role created in Jul 2025 for intelligent systems architecture and proprietary AI platforms; no appointment announced
Global Technology Platforms
Sravana Karnati, EVP (as of Sep 2025)
Builds Element and WIBEY; reporting line inferred; current leader unconfirmed
Global People
Donna Morris, EVP and Chief People Officer
Runs AI skills programs and certifications for associates
Digital and Associate Experience
Maren Waggoner, SVP and Chief People Officer
Reporting line inferred from the title
Walmart U.S.
David Guggina, President and CEO
Walmart has not published reporting lines below its Executive Council. The lines from Global Technology to its units are inferred from Suresh Kumar's biography, which places Walmart's technologists, data, cloud, infrastructure and information security in his organization, and from the FY2026 Form 10-K, which says the CISO reports to the CTO. Daniel Danker reported to Doug McMillon when hired in 2025, according to The Wall Street Journal as cited by Grocery Dive; Walmart has not published his line to John Furner. Walmart's leadership site, checked Oct 31, 2026, carries no biography for Sravana Karnati and names no EVP of AI Platforms.
Where the AI workforce sits
Engineers building with Code Puppy
Estimate: Walmart told Business Insider in Aug 2026 that about as many non-engineers as engineers use Code Puppy, which had nearly 75,000 lifetime users. Walmart has not disclosed its AI and machine learning headcount.
~50%Merchants, supply chain staff, store managers and hourly associates building with Code Puppy
Estimate from the same Aug 2026 statement; Suresh Kumar said Code Puppy is used in merchandising, in supply chain and by store managers.
~50%
Named people
Use cases
Walmart runs about 200 task-specific AI agents behind four super agents (Aug 2025), plus named tools for store associates, merchants, engineers, supply chain teams and corporate staff. Walmart has published a business return for three of them: AI coding tools, digital twins for store maintenance and self-healing inventory. Walmart has not published a firm-level return on AI; Doug McMillon said in Aug 2025 that AI was not yet lifting sales, and John Furner said in Aug 2026 that AI will improve nearly every part of Walmart's business.
| Use case | Area | Status | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| My Assistant My Assistant is Walmart's generative AI tool for campus associates; it drafts documents, summarizes long files and suggests ideas in associates' own languages, and reached associates in 11 countries in 2024. | Corporate functions | In production | |
| ChatGPT Enterprise and Claude Walmart began rolling out ChatGPT Enterprise to teams across the company in Oct 2025, and Bloomberg reported in Jun 2026 that staff can also use Anthropic's Claude alongside in-house tools. | Firmwide | In production | |
| Code Puppy Code Puppy is Walmart's in-house vibe coding tool that lets merchants, supply chain staff, store managers and engineers build dashboards, automations and small apps; a regional load manager used it to build a tool that cuts empty return trips, and Suresh Kumar said in Sep 2026 that it has spread to hundreds of stores. | Firmwide | In production | |
| Conversational assistant for associates Walmart's conversational AI answers store associates' questions, and a generative AI upgrade turns long process guides into step-by-step instructions; the assistant had more than 900,000 weekly users and over 3 million queries a day in Jun 2025. | Stores | In production | |
| AI task management Walmart's task manager prioritizes and recommends work for store teams, starting with overnight stocking and piloted on other shifts; team leads and store managers estimated it cut shift planning from 90 to 30 minutes (Jun 2025). | Stores | In production | |
| Real-time translation Walmart's translator handles text and speech in 44 languages in the associate app and knows Walmart terms such as its Great Value house brand (Jun 2025). | Stores | In production | |
| Inventory scanning with computer vision John Furner said in Feb 2026 that more than a million U.S. associates use handheld devices with computer vision, and Walmart's VizPick tool pairs RFID with augmented reality to find apparel that needs to move to the sales floor. | Stores | In production | |
| Digital twins for store maintenance Walmart and Sam's Club run digital twins for maintenance in 4,200 locations; built from drone captures and live data, the twins flag equipment such as refrigerators drifting toward failure up to two weeks ahead and open work orders. | Stores and real estate | In production | Walmart U.S. refrigeration maintenance spend down 19% in 2024, credited to AI digital twins (Aug 2025)Source |
| Wally merchant agent Wally is an AI agent that helps Walmart merchants find the root cause of out-of-stocks and overstocks (Feb 2025). | Merchandising | In production | |
| Trend-to-Product Trend-to-Product watches social and search trends, then generative AI helps Walmart's design teams develop matching products so they reach shelves in as little as six weeks (Jul 2025). | Merchandising | In production | |
| Catalog data enrichment Walmart used multiple large language models to create or improve more than 850 million pieces of catalog data, work Doug McMillon said would have needed nearly 100 times the headcount without generative AI (Aug 2024); AI that finds and fixes defects in supplier data began in Walmart's India technology center (Sep 2026). | eCommerce | In production | |
| Self-healing inventory Self-Healing Inventory spots stock imbalances and reroutes overstock to the stores that need it before the excess becomes waste; Walmart runs it in Mexico City as part of a shared supply chain stack it is extending across markets (Jul 2025). | Supply chain | In production | More than $55 million saved, credited to AI and automation (Jul 2025) |
| Route optimization Walmart's AI-powered Route Optimization plans truck routes and loads; Walmart said it eliminated 30 million unnecessary miles and 94 million pounds of CO2 emissions, and began selling it to other companies in Mar 2024. | Supply chain | In production | |
| Inventory positioning and fulfillment decisions John Furner said in May 2026 that AI helps Walmart position inventory and choose how to fulfill orders in real time, and Suresh Kumar said in Sep 2026 that Walmart is connecting its custom forecasting, replenishment and last-mile models so signals flow between them. | Supply chain | In production | |
| AI coding assistants Walmart's developers use coding assistance and completion tools that speed deployments and cut bugs, planned for all developers in North America and India in 2025; Doug McMillon said in Nov 2025 that more than 40% of new code is AI-generated or AI-assisted when developers use AI. | Technology | In production | About 4 million developer hours saved in 2024 by AI coding tools (Feb 2025)Source |
| WIBEY developer super agent WIBEY reads a developer's request and routes it to the right tools, APIs and agents through MCP and A2A from Slack, the command line or Visual Studio; Suresh Kumar said it cut the time to roll a feature across Walmart U.S., Sam's Club, Mexico and Canada from six or seven months to several weeks (Sep 2026). | Technology | In production | |
| Associate super agent Walmart's associate super agent is meant to be one entry point to schedules, sales data and HR help such as benefits, routing each request to agents built across the company (Jul 2025). | Associates | Announced | |
| Marty Marty is Walmart's super agent for suppliers, sellers and advertisers, built to handle onboarding, orders and ad campaigns (Jul 2025). | Suppliers and advertisers | Announced | |
| Sparky shopping agent Sparky, Walmart's customer super agent, plans meals and events, compares products and sets up reorders in the app, on the website and in stores; the number of customers using Sparky rose 70% in a year (Aug 2026). | Customers | In production | |
| Agent Gateway Agent Gateway is an MCP server, in invitation-only beta from Oct 2026, through which approved outside AI agents search Walmart and Sam's Club inventory and buy for shoppers under per-agent profiles and spending limits. | Customers | Pilot |
Adoption
Walmart spread AI in layers: Element from 2022; a GenAI Playground and My Assistant for about 50,000 corporate associates from summer 2023, extended to 11 countries in 2024; AI tools in the associate app for about 1.5 million U.S. store associates from Jun 2025, when the conversational assistant had more than 900,000 weekly users and over 3 million daily queries; and agents from Jul 2025. Code Puppy grew from about 1,000 users to nearly 75,000 lifetime users between Aug 2025 and Aug 2026, about half outside engineering. Walmart opened Google's AI Professional Certificate to 1.6 million U.S. and Canadian associates in Feb 2026 and launched an OpenAI certification in Jun 2026, and Walmart's first AI survey of associates, in Jun 2026, drew more than 1.7 million responses.
By the numbers
Rollout, first pilot to today
2022
Walmart launched Element, an in-house platform for building AI applications that draws on Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Walmart's own data centers.
Summer 2023
Walmart gave about 50,000 non-store associates My Assistant, built on Walmart data and large language models on Azure OpenAI Service.
Jun 2023
Walmart opened a GenAI Playground where associates could test generative AI models without sharing internal data, under an internal AI governance steering committee that approves projects.
Oct 2023
Walmart published its Responsible AI Pledge, with commitments on transparency, security, privacy, fairness, accountability and customer-centricity.
Jan 2024
Walmart extended My Assistant to associates in 11 countries, expecting about 25,000 users outside the U.S. in 2024.
Aug 2024
Doug McMillon said Walmart had used multiple large language models to create or improve more than 850 million pieces of catalog data.
Oct 2024
Walmart introduced Wallaby, a series of retail-specific LLMs trained on decades of Walmart data.
Feb 2025
Walmart introduced Wally, an AI agent for merchants, and said it would extend AI coding tools to all developers in North America and India.
Jun 2025
Walmart added AI task management, real-time translation in 44 languages and a generative AI upgrade to the associate app for about 1.5 million U.S. store associates.
Jul 2025
Walmart grouped its agents under four super agents for customers, associates, partners and developers, and created executive roles for AI acceleration and AI platforms.
Aug 2025
Walmart launched WIBEY, its developer super agent, and refitted Element to register, govern and observe agents through MCP and A2A.
Oct 2025
Walmart began rolling out ChatGPT Enterprise to teams across the company and signed on to OpenAI Certifications for associates.
Feb 2026
Walmart opened Google's AI Professional Certificate to 1.6 million associates in the U.S. and Canada.
Jun 2026
Walmart launched an OpenAI certification for associates, personalized to each associate's job.
Aug 2026
Code Puppy, Walmart's in-house vibe coding tool, reached nearly 75,000 lifetime users, about half outside engineering.
Economics & controls
Spend and ROI
Technology and capital spending
Walmart does not disclose a technology or AI budget. Walmart's capital spending was $26.6 billion in the fiscal year ended Jan 31, 2026, including $16.5 billion for U.S. supply chain, customer-facing initiatives, technology and other items, and Walmart plans $25 billion to $27 billion for fiscal 2027 with a focus on technology, supply chain and customer-facing initiatives. John David Rainey said in Feb 2026 that AI investments are built into Walmart's capital spending assumptions, and Greg Penner wrote in Apr 2026 that the board views AI and automation spending through the lens of return on investment.
What AI itself costs
Walmart has not published what AI costs. Walmart replaced unlimited Code Puppy use with a fixed token allowance per employee in Jun 2026 after demand ran higher than expected, while keeping staff access to Claude and ChatGPT (Bloomberg), and Suresh Kumar said Code Puppy usage had skyrocketed. Walmart paid Daniel Danker a $20 million restricted stock inducement award, vesting over two years, and a $5 million sign-on bonus when he joined in Aug 2025 to lead AI acceleration (2026 proxy).
Reported ROI
Walmart has published returns for named uses only: about 4 million developer hours saved by coding tools in 2024 (Feb 2025), refrigeration maintenance spend down 19% across Walmart U.S. in 2024 with digital twins (Aug 2025), and more than $55 million saved by self-healing inventory (Jul 2025). John David Rainey said in Aug 2025 that Walmart's investments in technology, AI and supply chain automation return in the 20% range in some cases, without separating AI. Doug McMillon said in Aug 2025 that AI was not yet lifting sales, and Daniel Danker said in Mar 2026 that he prioritizes AI for growth over efficiency.
Productivity markers
Walmart credits recent productivity gains to automation and tech tools without separating AI. John David Rainey said in Aug 2026 that wage costs fell as a share of sales in the quarter as store associates used more tech tools and supply chain automation sped up inventory flow, with more than 50% of eCommerce fulfillment volume running through automated facilities and 3,100 U.S. stores receiving some automated freight. Rainey said in Nov 2025 that technology and AI have enabled efficiency gains and that automation helped keep shipping costs down about 30% for many quarters.
Headcount
Walmart had about 2.1 million associates at Jan 31, 2026, about 1.6 million in the U.S. A Walmart spokesperson said in Sep 2025 that headcount should stay flat for three years as roles evolve, as Doug McMillon said AI will change literally every job, and John Furner said that month that Walmart expects roughly the same number of people in two to five years. Donna Morris said in Apr 2026 that Walmart employs about as many people as six years ago on much higher revenue. Walmart cut about 1,500 corporate roles in May 2025 and about 1,000 technology roles in May 2026, and Suresh Kumar said the 2026 changes came from building shared platforms and had nothing to do with AI.
Governance and risk
Board oversight
Walmart's Technology and eCommerce Committee, chaired by OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar, oversees AI and automation strategy under its charter; the Audit Committee oversees risks from the use of AI tools; and the Compensation and Management Development Committee reviews workforce development (2026 proxy). Walmart added Shishir Mehrotra to the board and both of those committees in Jan 2026, and shareholders rejected a United for Respect proposal for a report on the workplace impact of AI and automation in Jun 2026, with about 4.95% of votes cast in favor.
Responsible AI commitments
Walmart published a Responsible AI Pledge in Oct 2023 with six commitments: transparency, security, privacy, fairness through regular bias testing, accountability through AI managed by people, and customer-centricity. Walmart set up an internal AI governance steering committee by Jul 2023 that approves promising projects and screens applications that affect people for bias before launch, and Walmart's Digital Citizenship and Information Security teams had trained about 1.4 million U.S. associates on privacy and security by Sep 2024.
Data boundary
Walmart opened its GenAI Playground in Jun 2023 so associates could test models without internal data reaching public chatbots, and built My Assistant on Walmart data with models on Azure OpenAI Service. Donna Morris said in Apr 2026 that public-domain information can go to an external LLM, while Walmart-specific data stays in Walmart's internal data lake with access limited by role, as before AI.
Controls on agents
Walmart's Element gives teams an agent catalog with built-in guardrails and traces each agent's decision paths, reasoning steps and tool use (Aug 2025), and WIBEY keeps agents owned by domain teams discoverable under shared governance. For outside shopping agents, Walmart's Oct 2026 terms bar agents from payment data, limit them to the data a task needs, keep Walmart's returns process in place and block agents that break the terms, and customers can approve every purchase or set spending limits.
Cost controls
Walmart capped each employee's token allowance for Code Puppy in Jun 2026 and told staff to use AI where it creates value and to pick the right tool for each task, according to Bloomberg.
Disclosed risks
Walmart's FY2026 Form 10-K says its AI investments may not deliver the anticipated benefits, that bringing AI into its systems may expose Walmart to new liabilities from regulatory scrutiny, litigation and privacy risk, and that attackers now use AI to run reconnaissance, write exploit code and harvest credentials. Walmart's CISO, who reports to the CTO, briefs the Audit Committee on information security and cybersecurity risks.
Recent signals
Oct 27, 2026
Maren Waggoner said Walmart's first AI survey of associates, run in Jun 2026, drew more than 1.7 million responses: 77% of office-based associates were excited about AI's potential for their work, 84% of U.S. frontline associates felt confident with digital tools, and associates who finished OpenAI training reported a 27% gain in confidence.
Oct 21, 2026
John Furner launched Agent Gateway, an MCP server in invitation-only beta that lets approved outside AI agents search Walmart and Sam's Club inventory and buy for shoppers, with per-agent profiles, spending limits and terms that bar agents from payment data.
Sep 30, 2026
Suresh Kumar said at Converge in Bengaluru that Code Puppy has spread to hundreds of stores, that WIBEY cut the time to roll a feature across Walmart U.S., Sam's Club, Mexico and Canada from six or seven months to several weeks, and that Walmart's 2026 job cuts came from building shared platforms, not AI.
Aug 20, 2026
John Furner said AI will improve nearly every part of Walmart's business and that Sparky's customer count rose 70% in a year, and John David Rainey said wage costs fell as a share of sales as associates used more tech tools and supply chain automation sped up inventory flow.
Aug 4, 2026
Business Insider reported that Code Puppy creator Michael Pfaffenberger was leaving Walmart for Pydantic after Code Puppy grew from about 1,000 users to nearly 75,000 in a year, about half outside engineering; Walmart said the tool continues under his former team.
Jun 11, 2026
Modern Retail reported that Walmart had launched an OpenAI certification for associates the week before, personalized to each associate's job, after a Google AI certificate earlier in 2026.
Jun 4, 2026
Walmart shareholders rejected a proposal for a report on the workplace impact of AI and automation, which received about 4.95% of the votes cast; the board had opposed it as unnecessary given existing disclosures.
Jun 1, 2026
Bloomberg reported that Walmart replaced unlimited Code Puppy use with a fixed token allowance per employee after demand ran higher than expected, while staff keep access to Claude and ChatGPT.
May 21, 2026
John Furner said Walmart is becoming AI native and that AI helps it position inventory and make fulfillment decisions in real time, as weekly active users of Sparky more than doubled in the quarter.
May 13, 2026
Walmart cut about 1,000 corporate technology roles as Suresh Kumar and Daniel Danker merged the technology and product design teams of Walmart U.S., Sam's Club and International into one shared platform; Walmart did not attribute the cuts to AI.
Apr 2026
Donna Morris told MIT Technology Review's EmTech AI summit that Walmart aims to give each of its 2.1 million associates some AI skills, that its tech team numbers more than 35,000, and that Walmart employs about as many people as six years ago on much higher revenue.
Feb 19, 2026
Walmart opened Google's eight-hour AI Professional Certificate to 1.6 million frontline and corporate associates in the U.S. and Canada.
Jan 16, 2026
Walmart announced leadership changes for John Furner's first day as CEO on Feb 1, saying it is centralizing platforms to share capabilities across segments as AI reshapes retail.
Nov 20, 2025
Doug McMillon said more than 40% of new code at Walmart is AI-generated or AI-assisted when developers use AI, and that Walmart is rolling out ChatGPT Enterprise licenses and OpenAI certifications to associates.
Quick answers
- How does Walmart deploy AI?
- Walmart deploys AI on Element, a platform it built in 2022 that runs across Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and its own data centers, with about 200 agents grouped under four super agents. Walmart's store associates get AI tools in the associate app, whose assistant had more than 900,000 weekly users in Jun 2025, while corporate staff use My Assistant, ChatGPT Enterprise, Claude and the in-house Code Puppy. EVP Daniel Danker and Global CTO Suresh Kumar own AI at Walmart, which has published returns only for named uses.
- What does Walmart use AI for?
- Walmart runs about 200 task-specific AI agents behind four super agents (Aug 2025), plus named tools for store associates, merchants, engineers, supply chain teams and corporate staff. Walmart has published a business return for three of them: AI coding tools, digital twins for store maintenance and self-healing inventory. Walmart has not published a firm-level return on AI; Doug McMillon said in Aug 2025 that AI was not yet lifting sales, and John Furner said in Aug 2026 that AI will improve nearly every part of Walmart's business.
- Who leads AI at Walmart?
- AI at Walmart is led by Daniel Danker (EVP, AI Acceleration, Product and Design); Suresh Kumar (EVP, Global Chief Technology Officer and Chief Development Officer); Sravana Karnati (EVP, Global Technology Platforms (as of Sep 2025)). Ownership of AI on the org chart: EVP AI Acceleration Daniel Danker, on the Executive Council; Global CTO Suresh Kumar runs the platform.
- What AI platform does Walmart use?
- Element, which Walmart built in 2022, carries every associate AI tool, from My Assistant for corporate staff to the WIBEY developer agent, and Code Puppy lets associates outside engineering build their own tools (2023 to 2026).
- Which AI models does Walmart use?
- Walmart uses OpenAI models through Azure OpenAI and ChatGPT Enterprise, Anthropic's Claude, its own Wallaby retail LLMs and open models, and Element sends each task to the best model for the cost (2024 to 2026).
- How many Walmart employees use AI?
- More than 900,000 Walmart associates used its conversational assistant each week in Jun 2025, and AI tools in the associate app reach about 1.5 million U.S. store associates.
- How far has AI spread at Walmart?
- Walmart sits at Scaling: AI tools built on its Element platform reach about 1.5 million U.S. store associates, about 200 task-specific agents sit behind four super agents (Aug 2025), and named executives own AI, Daniel Danker for AI acceleration and Global CTO Suresh Kumar for the platform. Walmart falls short of Embedded on two tests: it reports no firm-level financial effect of AI, with Doug McMillon saying in Aug 2025 that AI was not yet lifting sales, and its largest weekly usage figure, more than 900,000 users of the associate assistant in Jun 2025, is under half of its 2.1 million associates. Donna Morris also said in Apr 2026 that most Walmart jobs will see some shaping from AI, not fundamental reshaping.
Open questions
- Has Walmart filled the EVP of AI Platforms role it created under Suresh Kumar in Jul 2025, and who now leads Global Technology Platforms, given that Walmart's leadership site no longer carries a Sravana Karnati biography?
- What does Walmart spend on AI models, tokens and licenses, and how far did the Jun 2026 Code Puppy token cap change usage or cost?
- What is the firm-level return on Walmart's AI work, given that Walmart has published figures only for named uses and Doug McMillon said in Aug 2025 that AI was not yet lifting sales?
- How many Walmart associates use AI tools every week today, given that the last published weekly figure, more than 900,000 users of the associate assistant, dates from Jun 2025?
- What returns do Walmart's deployed tools with no published figures deliver, such as My Assistant, the store task manager, real-time translation, Wally, Trend-to-Product, WIBEY and Code Puppy?
- Which model providers sit behind Walmart's Element, My Assistant and Code Puppy today, what share of traffic goes to OpenAI, Anthropic and Walmart's own Wallaby models, and does Walmart use Google's Gemini models internally?
- Has Walmart's associate super agent, announced in Jul 2025, reached store associates, and how many use it?
- Who leads Walmart's AI governance and Digital Citizenship work today, and has Walmart updated its Oct 2023 Responsible AI Pledge for agents?
- How many AI and machine learning specialists does Walmart employ among its more than 35,000 technologists?
- Which roles will shrink or grow under Walmart's plan to hold headcount flat for three years, and how many associates hold the agent builder role it created in 2025?
- How much of the about 4 million developer hours Walmart saved in 2024 turned into cost savings or new capacity, and has Walmart updated the figure since?
Sources
Walmart
- Walmart leadership
- Suresh Kumar, Global CTO and Chief Development Officer, biography
- Daniel Danker, EVP, AI Acceleration, Product and Design, biography
- Hari Vasudev, EVP and Tech Operating Partner, Walmart U.S., biography
- Sarah Friar, Walmart board of directors
- John Furner, 2026 CEO letter to shareholders
- Suresh Kumar: All in on Agents (Jul 24, 2025)
- Sravana Karnati: From models to agents, WIBEY and Element (Aug 29, 2025)
- Walmart: AI tools for 1.5 million associates (Jun 24, 2025)
- Walmart: My Assistant expands to 11 countries (Jan 9, 2024)
- Walmart: Wallaby and plans for scaling AI (Oct 9, 2024)
- Walmart: partnership with OpenAI (Oct 14, 2025)
- Walmart: the U.S. supply chain playbook goes global (Jul 17, 2025)
- Walmart Commerce Technologies: Route Optimization goes on sale (Mar 14, 2024)
- Walmart Global Tech: Element, a machine learning platform (Mar 14, 2024)
- Walmart Global Tech: cloud-powered AI tools and the triplet model (Mar 25, 2024)
- Walmart Global Tech: AI tools for developers (Oct 22, 2024)
- Walmart Global Tech: responsible use of data and technology (Sep 10, 2024)
- Walmart: 2026 annual shareholders' meeting voting results (Jun 4, 2026)
Filings, letters and investor materials
- Walmart FY2026 Annual Report and Form 10-K (filed Mar 2026)
- Walmart 2026 proxy statement (Apr 23, 2026)
- Walmart 8-K: leadership changes (Jan 16, 2026)
- Walmart 8-K: Shishir Mehrotra joins the board (Jan 8, 2026)
- Q2 FY2027 earnings call transcript (Aug 20, 2026)
- Q4 FY2026 earnings call transcript, The Motley Fool (Feb 19, 2026)
- Q3 FY2026 earnings call transcript (Nov 20, 2025)
- Q2 FY2026 earnings call transcript, MarketBeat (Aug 21, 2025)
- Q4 FY2025 earnings call transcript (Feb 20, 2025)
- Daniel Danker at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, transcript (Mar 4, 2026)
News
- CNBC: Walmart says AI training is building associates' confidence (Oct 27, 2026)
- TechCrunch: Walmart opens its site to AI shopping agents (Oct 21, 2026)
- Business Standard: interview with Walmart CTO Suresh Kumar (Sep 30, 2026)
- Business Insider via AOL: the creator of Code Puppy leaves for Pydantic (Aug 4, 2026)
- Bloomberg via The Spokesman-Review: Walmart caps use of an AI tool for employees (Jun 1, 2026)
- IT Brew: AI token caps at Walmart and others (Jun 10, 2026)
- Retail Brew: key takeaways from Walmart Associates Week (Jun 8, 2026)
- Modern Retail: Walmart trains store-level employees to use AI (Jun 11, 2026)
- Digital Commerce 360: Sparky and AI on the Q1 call (May 22, 2026)
- Talk Business & Politics: Walmart cuts about 1,000 technology jobs (May 13, 2026)
- CIO Dive: why Walmart is rolling out AI to 2 million employees (Apr 23, 2026)
- CIO Dive: Daniel Danker at the ICR Conference (Jan 16, 2026)
- Fortune: Walmart offers Google AI training to 1.6 million workers (Feb 19, 2026)
- Fortune: Doug McMillon on AI and every job (Sep 30, 2025)
- CNBC: Walmart's latest AI innovations, digital twins and super agents (Aug 30, 2025)
- Modern Retail: how Walmart and Lowe's use digital twins (Sep 23, 2025)
- SiliconANGLE: Element's agent upgrade and WIBEY (Aug 29, 2025)
- SiliconANGLE: Sravana Karnati on developer agents and the triplet model (Sep 30, 2025)
- SiliconANGLE: Walmart's generative AI guardrails (Jul 14, 2023)
- VentureBeat: Walmart's AI foundry ships its first apps (Jun 24, 2025)
- DeepLearning.AI, The Batch: inside Walmart's Element platform (Jul 9, 2025)
- Grocery Dive: Walmart hires Daniel Danker for AI (Jul 24, 2025)
- Modern Retail: generative AI and Walmart's product catalog (Aug 15, 2024)
- Supermarket News: Walmart's Responsible AI Pledge (Oct 2023)
- PEX Network: David Glick on Walmart's AI strategy (Feb 13, 2025)
- Emerj: David Glick on AI delivery speed at Walmart (Mar 17, 2026)
Data confidence
- Confirmed
- Stated in a primary or reputable public source.
- Estimated
- Derived or approximated from public reporting.
- Unconfirmed
- Reported, but not yet corroborated.
Walmart profile · Enterprise AI diffusion report by Imagine · facts checked against their sources on Oct 31, 2026
