Walmart To Launch Four Advanced AI Agents For Customers And Employees - 1

Photo by David Montero on Unsplash

Walmart To Launch Four Advanced AI Agents For Customers And Employees

  • Written by Andrea Miliani Former Tech News Expert
  • Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager

Walmart is set to launch four “super agents,” advanced AI systems with agentic capabilities, designed to serve different purposes and target audiences within its business network.

In a rush? Here are the quick facts:

  • Walmart will launch four advanced AI systems with agentic capabilities called “super agents.”
  • The four models have been designed for customers, employees, and suppliers.
  • One of the AI agents, Sparky, is already live, but the company will enhance it soon, and the other super agents will be launched in the following months.

According to an exclusive report from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) , Walmart will announce this week its plan for its four specialized AI agents: one for customers, one for employees, one for engineers, and another one for suppliers and sellers.

Walmart had been developing dozens of AI agents over the past several months, but ultimately decided to focus on the four most relevant and useful for its operations.

“It became very clear that we could dramatically simplify,” said Suresh Kumar, Walmart’s chief technology officer and chief development officer, to WSJ. “If I have an agent that helps you with your payroll and I have a different agent that helps you with identifying merchandising trends, you shouldn’t have to remember that and switch between those two.”

Kumar explained that AI is already transforming the way Walmart operates and that building specialized tools presents a major opportunity to enhance experiences across its business network.

Each agent is at a different stage of development and will be released at different times. Sparky, customer-facing advanced AI agent, is already live, but the company plans to share updates and improvements soon. The supplier-focused agent, Marty, is expected to launch in the coming months and will include analytics on purchases and advertising campaign suggestions. The other two super agents—for employees and engineers—are slated for release next year.

Walmart will integrate these super agents with Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) program so that they can interact with other smaller agents, apps, and data sources.

According to Reuters , Walmart is betting on AI, aiming to support growth and manage up to 50% of its sales within the next five years.

Some of Walmart’s AI plans were previously accidentally revealed by Microsoft during a presentation at its Build conference, when AI security chief Neta Haiby unintentionally displayed internal Teams messages on the screen.

Uber Announces ‘Women Preferences’ Feature - 2

Image by Jan Baborák, from Unsplash

Uber Announces ‘Women Preferences’ Feature

  • Written by Kiara Fabbri Former Tech News Writer
  • Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager

Uber has introduced a new feature in the U.S. that allows women riders and drivers to match with other female users in order to enhance the platform’s safety and comfort.

In a rush? Here are the quick facts:

  • Uber’s new “Women Preferred” mode launches in three U.S. cities.
  • Women can request female drivers for added comfort and safety.
  • The feature began in Saudi Arabia in 2019.

The Uber app enables women riders to select female drivers through three different options: on-demand rides with women drivers, reserved rides with women drivers, and a setting to match with women drivers by default.

Uber explains that this feature, called Women Preferences, will begin testing in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Detroit in the coming weeks. The app enables women riders to select female drivers through three different options: on-demand rides, reserved rides, or a default setting to always match with women drivers.

“It’s about giving women more choice, more control, and more comfort when they ride and drive,” said Camiel Irving, Uber’s vice president of U.S. and Canada operations, as reported by CNBC .

Women drivers have the option to select female-only ride requests even during busy hours, and can enable or disable this option at any time.

The feature was first introduced in Saudi Arabia in 2019, after the government granted women the right to drive. The feature has grown to serve 40 nations, while providing more than 100 million trips.

The change comes as Uber faces ongoing criticism over safety concerns, as noted by The Verge . According to its 2024 safety report , there were 2,717 reported incidents of serious sexual assault or misconduct between 2021 and 2022.

Uber instructs female riders to cancel their ride and file a report if a male shows up after they select a female driver. The company plans to enhance the experience through user feedback, educational programs, and strategic partnerships.