Every single employee at Walmart, from cashiers to store managers to top executives, will soon see their role reshaped by artificial intelligence, the retailer warned.
CEO Doug McMillon announced that the big-box store — which employs about 2.1 million people worldwide, including 1.6 million people in the U.S. — plans to go on the “offense” with AI, according to Axios.
"Every job we've got is going to change in some way — whether it's getting the shopping carts off the parking lot, or the way our technologists work, or certainly the way leadership roles change," McMillon said during a Monday Harvard Business Review event.
His statement comes two weeks after the company announced a collaboration with Sam Altman’s OpenAI, which will allow customers to browse products and make purchases through ChatGPT.
"What we want to do is equip everybody to be able to make the most of the new tools that are available, learn, adapt, add value, drive growth — and still be a really large employer years from now," McMillon added.
The announcement also comes as corporate America is betting big on AI, with firms like Google and Amazon spending billions on AI data centers around the nation. Alongside these investments, thousands of employees have been laid off in numerous corporations with the expectation that existing roles will become automated.
During the Harvard Business Review event, McMillon said Walmart employees are being trained to use AI tools to prepare them for the future of machine-assisted commerce.
Specifically, they have been provided access to ChatGPT as well as other AI platforms to experiment.
The retailer — which operates at more than 10,000 locations in 19 countries — will also use Walmart Academies, a global training initiative, to equip workers with necessary skills.
Walmart needs to “be the best in the world at application,” McMillon said.
He added that the Arkansas-based company has established a new leadership position to oversee AI, which has been filled by Daniel Denker.
AI is expected to create a number of jobs at Walmart, which will offset those that it replaces, McMillon said, though he did not provide specific numbers. Among them will be certified technicians, who will supervise the firm’s automated systems.
Other major retailers have recently announced massive workforce reductions amidst the rise of AI.
In late October, Amazon announced it will slash 14,000 corporate jobs based on the assumption that workers will be replaced by AI, The Independent previously reported. Target said it cut 1,800 corporate positions, marking the firm’s biggest bout of layoffs in 10 years, according to CNBC.
Before these cutbacks and wholesale restructurings were announced, Americans were already worried about the effect of automation on the job market.
In an August Reuters/Ipsos survey, 71 percent of respondents expressed concern that AI will put “too many people out of work permanently." In a September CBS News/YouGov poll, 46 percent of respondents said they believe AI will decrease jobs over the next decade, while just 23 percent said it will increase them.
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