People-Led, Tech-Powered: Walmart’s AI Job Shift
episode
Where AI Works: Conversations at the Intersection of AI and Industry
26 min
2 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 1 month ago
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What is Walmart’s “people‑led, tech‑powered” philosophy for AI?
I think for many years we may have said liberal arts, that's not as important. I'd actually say liberal arts probably super important because it builds a lot of those behavioral skills and capabilities that are really what's gonna bring the human to roles. I think when you consider automation, anything that really has a lot, a lot of data could probably be AI automated. But when you think of judgment, creativity, innovation unlocks, interpersonal capabilities, communication skills, a lot of those are deeply human and those are areas where we all need to lean into.
Hello, and welcome back to Where AI Works, conversations at the intersection of AI and industry, brought to you by Wharton in collaboration with Accenture. I'm your host, Matthew Bidwell. I'm a professor of management, faculty co-director of the Wharton People Analytics Initiative, and faculty director of Wharton's CHRO program. It's our goal on this podcast to cut through the noise and try and deliver some actionable insights for business leaders about where AI is going. We'll try and combine some cutting edge research with real-world case studies. Things are changing fast, so let's get started. AI isn't just changing the tasks that people do, as it changes tasks, it ends up changing jobs. And as we change jobs, we have to think about what kind of skills people are gonna need in the future.
We also have to think about what that then means for their career paths, mobility, and so on. When you have companies with a big frontline workforce, that means that the stakes are really high. It creates new opportunities for managing people as well as we think about how AI can be used to help empower people of the workforce, push decisions down towards them, and so on and so forth. So we really need to understand what's coming and how we prepare for it. In doing so, we thought it would be great to talk to the people who manage according to Wikipedia. medium more people than any other private sector organization. So I'm really excited today to have with me the Chief Popol Officer at Walmart, Donna Morris, to talk through how AI is being implemented at Walmart.
Donna, welcome to Where AI Works. Thanks for having us. Really appreciate it. So I was wondering to kick things off. Um maybe you could just tell us a little bit about yourself, what you're doing, and just very big picture. What's Walmart's philosophy when it comes to AI?
Yeah. So first and foremost, I'm the Chief People Officer at Walmart. What is the Chief People Officer? We're really here to make sure that we're able to attract, develop, reward, retain, and build a great workforce to serve our customers and our members. We have more than 2.1 million associates that work for us across the markets in which we operate. 1.6 million of those associates work here in the United States. We believe that our workforce will continue to be people-led, tech powered. We're going to unlock the potential that our people bring to the job by leveraging AI tools and technologies and, frankly, platforms to better serve our customers for our associates to work more effectively, as opposed to thinking of this as going into a dark period.
We actually look at it as an opportunity. To really bring our workforce along with us. And so we're focused on equipping our workforce with the skills that they need for the future.
I want to talk a little bit about what AI means for you. Um, this kind of you talk about AI at scale, nobody has your scale. When we talk about this people led, tech powered idea, what does that mean for a frontline employee on a typical day?
How will AI reshape jobs at Walmart – evolving, emerging, or disappearing roles?
I'm curious what you're experiencing so far in implementing AI, where you've been able to find that it's able to make a difference.
Well, let me start by saying AI has been living in our applications and how we actually think about ways of working for many years. I think a nuance would be agentic AI. And when we think of that, that's newer. How does that come to life in a store? The next best action that somebody would do that was perhaps a personal shopper in our store, they're picking items from.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is Walmart’s “people‑led, tech‑powered” philosophy for AI?
0:02–3:40
2
How will AI reshape jobs at Walmart – evolving, emerging, or disappearing roles?
3:40–6:54
3
What new AI‑focused roles, like “agent builders,” are appearing at Walmart?
6:54–10:41
4
Which soft skills does Walmart consider most critical for an AI‑driven workforce?
10:41–13:34
5
How is Walmart reskilling its 2.1 million associates for the AI era?
13:34–17:25
6
What training pathways and certifications (Google, OpenAI) does Walmart offer?
17:25–20:12
7
How does Walmart manage the human side of AI transformation and employee communication?
20:12–23:22
8
What advice does Walmart give leaders about adaptability and lifelong learning?
23:22–26:10