Thousands of Jobs at Risk as Walmart Moves to ChatGPT

There is almost no other way to look at it. ChatGPT is on its way to drive significant layoffs at Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT | WMT Price Prediction). “Walmart Partners with OpenAI to Create AI-First Shopping Experiences,” the company announced. Artificial intelligence is moving into stores and replacing functions now done by humans.

One major reason for the deal is that people will be able to do much of their shopping before they reach the stores. “Through AI-first shopping, the retail experience shifts from reactive to proactive as it learns, plans and predicts, helping customers anticipate their needs before they do,” Walmart says.

A primary reason for the move is to connect customers to the shopping experience. This does not just mean locating products; it means describing them and showing how they work. That is too much information for an employee on the Walmart store floor. There is no longer a need for an expert in each department. The AI features will know more about the products than their manufacturers do. This adds to what Walmart calls a “transformation.”

Then there is checkout, which is automated, in part, at almost every Walmart store. When that goes to 100%, AI checkout is seamless. Walmart calls this “Instant Shopping.”

So-called retail shrinkage is about 1.2% of inventory. Most of this loss is due to theft by shoppers and employees. AI will spot stolen goods going out the door, both the front door and the back door. What now costs Walmart tens of millions of dollars will go away.

There is also consistency. In every company, some employees are better than others. AI makes every “employee” better, as ChatGPT consistently becomes the best employee, programmed and benchmarked to be better than the employees who are benched.

Eventually, AI will drive delivery trucks and take merchandise that people have bought to the parking lot. That is thousands more workers who AI will displace.

In time, Walmart will make more money because it has fewer and fewer workers.

Walmart’s 3-Year AI Plan for the Company’s Future