Walmart has introduced an Agent Gateway and a set of new features to support customers who shop using AI agents, taking a different approach from rival Amazon, which recently began blocking agents from making purchases. Several travel and booking sites have also locked agents out entirely.
President and CEO John Furner, speaking at the Masters of Scale Summit in San Francisco, said the retailer is preparing for a future in which AI agents become mainstream. The technology will cover both Walmart and Sam’s Club, building on existing partnerships with Meta’s Muse and integrations with ChatGPT, Gemini and other AI apps.
The Agent Gateway is an MCP server that lets approved agents search Walmart’s inventory and buy on a user’s behalf, without customers needing to share personal data or purchase history with the agent. Agent Profiles, rolling out next month, will let shoppers authorize each agent separately, view its purchases apart from their own, and require approval per transaction or set spending limits.
Walmart has also set terms for AI agents, barring them from exceeding user intent, accessing payment information or collecting unnecessary data. Its standard returns process will apply even when an agent misbehaves, and non-compliant agents will be blocked.
