Walmart CEO: AI Won’t Cut Jobs Despite Major Changes

The prevailing narrative in retail automation suggests that major corporations like Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT), McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Costco will collectively eliminate hundreds of thousands of positions over the next three years through artificial intelligence implementation. According to this view, AI-enabled reductions in frontline workers would generate hundreds of millions in savings that would flow directly to bottom lines, with companies resisting such cuts facing stock market punishment for technological backwardness.

This automation-focused perspective identifies low-wage, low-skilled positions at checkout counters, customer service desks, inventory management, and shelf-stocking as particularly vulnerable to replacement. The transition is already underway across the United States retail sector, with cashier-less checkout systems becoming increasingly common in stores nationwide.

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon offers a strikingly different forecast for America’s largest private employer. While acknowledging that ‘AI is going to change literally every job’ at Walmart, he projects the company’s employee count will not change significantly over the coming three years. This position is particularly notable given Walmart’s massive workforce of 1.6 million people in the United States.

McMillon’s vision involves strategic workforce redeployment rather than reduction. He anticipates growth in positions handling home delivery services and bakery operations, with in-store maintenance jobs potentially increasing as well. The core philosophy driving this approach is McMillon’s assertion that ‘We are going to put people in front of people,’ reflecting the belief that consumers prefer human interaction over robotic advice when making purchasing decisions.

This human-centric automation strategy acknowledges that certain functions will inevitably transition to technology. Chatbots will assist shoppers, warehouse staffing will decline, and robots will handle significant portions of in-store work. However, the company appears committed to maintaining its workforce size by creating new customer-facing roles to replace those automated in back-end operations.

Despite McMillon’s confident projections, Walmart’s leadership acknowledges significant unresolved questions about how the company will retain employees as AI assumes larger operational responsibilities. Donna Morris, Walmart’s chief people officer, admitted the company lacks complete answers, stating ‘We’ve got to do our homework, and so we don’t have those answers.’ This acknowledgment highlights the practical challenges inherent in McMillon’s vision.

The uncertainty Morris describes may create false security among Walmart workers facing an industry-wide automation trend that extends far beyond retail. Across multiple sectors, AI is expected to replace positions ranging from paralegals and software developers to truck drivers, farm workers involved in harvesting, and even highly skilled roles like air traffic controllers.

Walmart’s approach represents a high-stakes experiment in workforce management that could establish a new template for how major employers navigate the AI transition. If successful, the company could demonstrate that large-scale automation can coexist with stable employment levels through strategic redeployment and retraining. If unsuccessful, Walmart could face the same workforce reductions currently anticipated across the retail sector and broader economy.