Can you slack off at work? E-commerce giants equip employees with AI assistants

The artificial intelligence storm has already swept across all walks of life, and retail giants such as Amazon, Apple, and Samsung are restricting their employees from using artificial intelligence tools such as OpenAI's ChatGPT - but Walmart is doing the opposite .

Walmart recently announced that it will equip its employees with "AI smart assistants." Walmart's chief people officer Donna Morris and executive vice president of new business Cheryl Anoa wrote in a blog post that the artificial intelligence tool includes a feature called "My Assistant" that can aggregate documents and speed up the creation and drafting of projects.

According to the article, the goal of the tool is to free up employees from mundane, repetitive tasks, allowing them to focus more time and energy on improving the customer experience.

Walmart's move to provide AI tools to its office employees is just one of many ways the big retailer is integrating artificial intelligence into the company.

In its customer service department, Walmart has added "conversational AI", including the Walmart Voice Order Assistant and the Text to Shop service, which recommends products to consumers based on their past orders.

In Walmart's offline stores, store associates can use the "Ask Sam" voice assistant to help them find the items they need. In addition, the retailer's self-checkout machines are also equipped with artificial intelligence cameras to detect products and prevent theft.

In addition to the above-mentioned AI applications, Walmart is also recruiting a senior manager for its AI team with an annual salary between $168,000 and $252,000, which shows its emphasis on the field of AI.

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon recently told shareholders that Walmart will focus on increasing its use of generative AI to better understand consumers and improve the supply chain.

While some of America’s largest companies are split on whether to embrace artificial intelligence, some are cautiously introducing AI into their businesses.

Accenture and Goldman Sachs, for example, are building and testing their own AI tools, hoping the technology will streamline workflows and increase productivity. Tech companies like Meta, Netflix and dating app Hinge are even willing to pay six-figure salaries to attract talent with the technology.

While Walmart's chief people officer and executive vice president of retail spoke about the limitations of AI in a blog post, he believes its benefits will outweigh them.

Walmart

AI