Walmart introduced an Agent Gateway on Wednesday that lets approved AI agents connect to the retailer and shop on a customer's behalf, along with new account controls for those agents. The announcement covers shopping at both Walmart and its Sam's Club warehouse chain. The retailer is positioning the technology as preparation for a future in which AI agents become a mainstream way to shop online.
The launch comes shortly after Amazon, Walmart's top competitor, started blocking AI agents from making purchases for online shoppers. Travel and booking sites have also shut agents out entirely as consumer use of the software has grown. Walmart has already announced a partnership with Meta's Muse and offers integrations with AI apps including ChatGPT and Gemini.
The centerpiece is the Agent Gateway, a new MCP server that connects approved agents to Walmart over the model context protocol, which Anthropic originally created to link AI agents to outside data sources, tools and workflows. Through it, an agent can search Walmart's online inventory and complete purchases for its user. Walmart said the gateway will also let customers shop for their usual brands or items without sharing their personal information or purchase history directly with the agent.
Walmart president and CEO John Furner described the expansion at the Masters of Scale Summit in San Francisco on Wednesday. The company also built technology to distinguish agent purchases from a customer's own and to give shoppers control over what agents can do. Agent Profiles, rolling out next month, let customers authorize each agent with a dedicated profile and view its purchases separately. Shoppers can require approval for every transaction or set a spending limit, similar to adding an authorized user to a credit card, and can delete a profile at any time. A Walmart account is required, but Walmart+ is not.
Walmart is also introducing terms for AI agents that set how they may operate and what rights they have to transact on its site. Under the terms, agents cannot exceed the shopper's intent, cannot access payment information and can only reach information needed for the task. Walmart said its returns process applies even when an agent does not act as intended, and agents that violate the terms will be blocked from the site.
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