From Business Insider · Dominick Reuter · · 1m 10s
Walmart embraces AI shopping bots as Amazon shuts them out
Walmart launches tools to let AI agents shop for customers, while Amazon blocks the technology and sues competitors using it.
In brief
Walmart launches tools to let AI agents shop for customers, while Amazon blocks the technology and sues competitors using it. Walmart is rolling out AI agent shopping features while Amazon blocks bots from its platform, creating a split approach to the emerging technology. Originally reported by Business Insider.
Walmart opens doors to shopping bots
Walmart announced Wednesday it has two new tools to help third-party AI agents shop on customers' behalf: agent profiles and an agent gateway.
How Walmart's agent tools work
Agent profiles link all transactions to the bot that performed them and let customers manage authorizations and spending limits.
Amazon takes the opposite approach
Amazon recently blocked Meta's agent Muse from its site, saying agents violate Amazon's conditions of use. Amazon has also sued Perplexity and restricted agents from Google and OpenAI.
Walmart protects customer data through gateways
Walmart's gateway protects customer information by only providing what is necessary for completing a transaction.It can share relevant patterns like a customer's favorite laundry detergent brand without sharing their entire purchase history with the agent.
The takeaway
Walmart is rolling out AI agent shopping features while Amazon blocks bots from its platform, creating a split approach to the emerging technology.
