Walmart will let AI assistants shop for you, with a spending cap you set
Each AI assistant gets its own profile in your Walmart account. You can see what it bought and set a limit such as $50, $100 or $200.
Walmart says AI assistants will soon be able to shop for you on its site, under rules you control.
Some people already ask an AI assistant to buy things for them. Today, that assistant signs in with the customer's own account. Walmart says this means all purchases show up together, so you cannot tell who bought what.
The new plan has three parts. The first is called Agent Profiles, and it launches in the next month. Each AI assistant gets its own profile inside your Walmart account. You can see what it bought, apart from your own orders.
You also choose how its purchases get approved. You can approve every purchase. Or you can let the assistant buy things up to a limit you set, such as $50, $100 or $200. Walmart compares this to adding someone as a cardholder on your credit card. You can turn it off at any time.
The second part is the Walmart Agent Gateway. It gives AI assistants a faster, more reliable way to shop than clicking through pages built for people. Walmart says it will start as a test for companies and developers.
The third part is a set of rules for AI assistants. They must not do more than the shopper wants. They do not get your card details. Assistants that break the rules will be blocked from Walmart's site.
Walmart also says the prices an AI assistant sees are the same prices a person would see.
Open it and check the claim yourself. That is the point.