Walmart Opens Website to AI Shopping Agents Next Month as Amazon Blocks Tools Like Perplexity
Updated
Updated · The Verge · Oct 21
Walmart Opens Website to AI Shopping Agents Next Month as Amazon Blocks Tools Like Perplexity
2 articles · Updated · The Verge · Oct 21
Summary
Next month, Walmart will let customers connect their own AI agents to Walmart.com and Sam’s Club, with purchases requiring approval by default or operating within a user-set budget such as $100.
New Agent Profiles and an Agent Gateway built on the Model Context Protocol are designed to let agents complete shopping tasks while limiting access to payment changes, personal data and broader shopping history.
Walmart said agents must act only on a shopper’s instructions, can access only information needed for the task, and will be blocked if they violate those terms.
The rollout puts Walmart on the opposite side of Amazon, which has blocked shopping agents from Perplexity and Meta’s Muse assistant, highlighting a split over how retailers handle agentic commerce.