Walmart will let your AI shopping assistant buy with your permission

Walmart announced on October 21 that customers will be able to connect their own AI shopping assistant to their Walmart account. The feature is called Agent Profiles, and Walmart says it is due within a month. So you could tell your assistant to get more milk from Walmart, and it could place the order within limits you approved.

What it does

An Agent Profile links your assistant to your Walmart account. It marks the assistant's purchases as separate from your own and lets you revoke its access. Setup happens once. You start in the assistant's app, sign in to Walmart and authorize the profile with purchasing controls.

You may still be asked to approve a purchase. For a repeat item like milk, Walmart says it can help identify your usual products without exposing your wider shopping history.

How the connection works

Behind the scenes, Walmart is also launching the Walmart Agent Gateway. It connects outside assistants to Walmart's shopping systems through Sparky, Walmart's own agent. Walmart says this can cut unnecessary requests, delays and computing costs compared with an assistant clicking through a website built for people.

The gateway starts as an invitation-only beta for companies and developers. It is not something shoppers sign up for directly. Walmart also reserves the right to suspend access.

If something goes wrong

Walmart says its normal returns process applies even if an agent does not act as intended. That gives shoppers a familiar way to seek a fix. The analysis from Opus Research notes that it is not a blanket guarantee against agent mistakes.

A clear record of what the assistant was allowed to do could also help sort out disputes. Did it stay within a spending limit? Did you approve the order?

What is not known yet

• Whether any assistant that meets the rules can connect, or only those with a deal with Walmart.
• How Walmart's controls will work with an assistant's own approval steps, so you are not asked twice.
• Whether assistants can later track deliveries, report missing items or request refunds.
• Whether permission to buy covers accepting store credit or a replacement.

What to do

When Agent Profiles arrive, set a clear spending limit and decide which purchases need your approval. Remember you can revoke access, and returns work the usual way. The material does not mention a price for the feature.