Walmart (NYSE: WMT) is being blunt about the impact of artificial intelligence on its workforce: AI will change almost every job. And the company isn't pretending otherwise.
"It's very clear that AI is going to change literally every job. Maybe there's a job in the world that AI won't change, but I haven't thought of it," said CEO Doug McMillon at the retail giant’s Bentonville, Arkansas, headquarters, according to the Wall Street Journal.
AI Is Reshaping Walmart's Strategy, Not Shrinking Its Ambitions
According to the Journal, McMillon doesn't expect Walmart to grow its workforce over the next three years, even though it plans to increase revenue. The company currently employs around 2.1 million people worldwide.
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Chief People Officer Donna Morris reportedly said the total headcount will stay roughly flat, but the types of jobs will change. "We've got to do our homework, and so we don't have those answers," Morris said.
Walmart has already started using AI tools in customer service, supply chain management, and internal operations. It has built chatbots, called "agents," for customers, suppliers, and employees. Some warehouse roles have been automated in recent years, resulting in job cuts, according to the Journal. The company is also looking to automate certain back-of-store tasks.
At the same time, Walmart is creating new positions, such as "agent builders" who develop AI tools for internal teams. Other roles in areas like home delivery, in-store maintenance, and bakery operations are expected to expand.
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McMillon emphasized that change will be gradual, not overnight. He also made it clear that Walmart will continue to prioritize human workers in customer-facing roles. "Until we're serving humanoid robots and they have the ability to spend money, we're serving people," he said. "We are going to put people in front of people."
The Journal reports that Walmart is taking a detailed approach by tracking which job categories are growing, shrinking, or holding steady. The goal is to prepare employees for transitions through retraining.
"Our goal is to create the opportunity for everybody to make it to the other side," McMillon said.
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Other major employers are saying the quiet part out loud, too. "Artificial intelligence is going to replace literally half of all white-collar workers in the U.S.," Ford (NYSE: F) CEO Jim Farley recently said in an interview at The Aspen Institute
While the long-term effects of AI are still unclear, the message from Walmart is not. It's preparing for a future where revenue grows without a bigger headcount—but with a very different workforce.
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