Walmart launches AI shopping agents as Amazon blocks them

Walmart Opens AI Agent Gateway as Amazon Blocks Bots

While Amazon is locking AI shoppers out, Walmart just opened its Agent Gateway so bots can buy for you today. John Furner announced the move at the Masters of Scale Summit in San Francisco on Wednesday. The gateway uses Anthropic’s model context protocol, letting approved agents search Walmart’s inventory and place orders. Walmart already teamed with Meta’s Muse and supports ChatGPT, Gemini and other popular AI apps. Next month shoppers will get Agent Profiles, a separate account slice that logs each bot’s purchases. You can set spending caps or require approval for every transaction, just like an authorized credit‑card user. The system never sees your payment details and will block any agent that breaks the new terms. Walmart says returns still apply, even if a bot orders the wrong item.