Walmart’s Chief Executive, Doug McMillon, delivered a blunt message this week: artificial intelligence will upend the nature of how work is done — and that includes the roles at America’s largest private employer.
Speaking at a workforce conference in Bentonville, Arkansas, McMillon said the company anticipates that while some jobs will disappear, others will emerge — reshaping Walmart’s workforce rather than shrinking it.
“Maybe there’s a job in the world that AI won’t change, but I haven’t thought of it,” he said, underscoring the sweeping scale of transformation he believes is underway.
Workforce Evolution, Not Reduction — At Least for Now
Despite his warnings, McMillon expects Walmart’s total headcount — currently around 2.1 million employees globally — to remain mostly stable over the next three years. What will shift, however, is the composition and mix of jobs.
Executive leadership is now tracking which types of roles will likely decline, which will expand, and where the company needs to retrain or redeploy staff.
To that end, Walmart is already experimenting with new job categories. One example: the creation of a role called “agent builder”, whose responsibility is building AI tools (or “agents”) to automate certain business workflows.
Warehouse automation is already underway, and more tasks behind the scenes may soon be AI-powered, especially in areas like inventory, logistics, and support systems.
At the same time, McMillon emphasized that humans will remain in front of the consumer, especially in areas requiring personal interaction. He noted that the company would not replace employees with humanoid robots just yet.
A Broader Trend Among Big Corporations
McMillon’s remarks echo similar concerns voiced recently by CEOs at Ford, JPMorgan Chase, Amazon, and other major firms. Many leaders are now openly discussing how AI will reduce or reshape roles across industries.
At the same conference, Walmart revealed that AI is already being embraced in technology and support functions, such as automating bug fixes and compliance tasks. The company hired Daniel Danker (formerly of Instacart) to oversee AI strategy and guide its integration across operations.
Industry observers expect more firms will follow suit — identifying roles ripe for automation, retraining workers, and deploying AI with human oversight. Ronnie Chatterji, OpenAI’s chief economist, warned that the next 18 to 36 months may bring sharper disruptions to jobs as AI systems become more capable.
