Walmart announced on Tuesday entered a modern partnership with OpenAI that will allow consumers to purchase Walmart products through its AI chatbot, including groceries (not fresh food), household items and more, and then checkout instantly.
The agent shopping feature will also enable Sam’s Club members to plan meals and stock up on essentials, as well as discover modern items while chatting with artificial intelligence, the company says.
To operate this feature, customers will press the “buy” button in the ChatGPT app during purchases after connecting their Walmart accounts to ChatGPT. Products from third-party sellers will also be supported when the feature rolls out later this fall.
Walmart explains that its modern deal with OpenAI will allow the retailer to better learn and anticipate customer needs, making online shopping experiences more personalized and proactive, rather than just reactive.
The partnership follows OpenAI’s recent announcement of its plan to enter the world of e-commerce with an agent-based shopping system that includes product discovery, recommendations and payments. The company said OpenAI is initially working with Etsy and Shopify sellers.
The ChatGPT-centric shopping feature won’t be the only way consumers will be able to shop using AI. Among other investments in artificial intelligence, Walmart recently introduced the technology own generative AI shopping assistant, Sparky, designed to facilitate customers discover, compare products and make purchases. This functionality will be expanded to include the ability to re-order, reserve services and read multimodal input from text, images, audio and video.
The retailer is also working with OpenAI in other areas of its business, having adopted OpenAI and ChatGPT Enterprise certifications for its internal teams. Both Walmart and Sam’s Club are making extensive operate of AI for other purposes, such as speeding up fashion production by up to 18 weeks and reducing customer service times by up to 40%.
“For many years, the e-commerce shopping experience consisted of a search bar and a long list of product responses. That’s about to change,” noted Walmart President and CEO Doug McMillon in a prepared statement. “Native AI, multimedia, personalized and context-aware is coming. We are racing towards a more enjoyable and convenient future with Sparky and through partnerships, including this important step with OpenAI,” he added.