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Whether you wear a blue apron or a suit to work, change is in store at Walmart. On Thursday, CEO Doug McMillon predicted AI will revolutionize the company’s workforce, eliminating some positions and creating others. “AI is going to change literally every job,” McMillon said, joining a growing chorus of C-suite AI bulls.
People of Walmart: The world’s largest retailer currently employs about 2.1 million workers globally, and it plans to maintain that head count for the next three years, while still growing revenue. McMillon told the Associated Press it’s hard to say how it will all play out, but corporate jobs will likely get hit first, and roles dealing directly with customers will change more gradually.
The AI wave: McMillon is far from being corporate America’s first artificial intelli-vangelist:
- Accenture CEO Julie Sweet said last week the company will start “exiting” employees who don’t adapt to AI.
- In August, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said the software company was able to cut 4,000 support roles thanks to AI.
- In June, Ford CEO Jim Farley predicted half of all white-collar workers in the US would be replaced by AI.
Sloppy stakes: More AI doesn’t always mean more productivity. A recent survey from BetterUp and Stanford found that 40% of US workers reported receiving AI-generated “workslop” over the past month, which can require extra human work to fix.—BC