Walmart has officially launched Sparky, a generative AI assistant embedded in its mobile app, marking the retail giant’s latest move in a broader strategy to transform its operations and customer experience with artificial intelligence.
Sparky’s release follows the earlier rollout of Wally, a behind-the-scenes AI assistant for merchant teams, and comes amid Walmart’s accelerating ambitions to implement agentic AI systems across its ecosystem.
Sparky: Personalized AI for Everyday Shoppers
Sparky, unveiled company-wide on June 10, is now available to all users of the Walmart app.
Designed to help customers navigate Walmart’s vast online and in-store inventory, the assistant uses natural language processing to deliver tailored shopping support.
Users can pose open-ended questions—such as “What’s a good laptop for a middle schooler?”—and Sparky will recommend products based on reviews, availability, and relevance.
It can also summarize product reviews, offer comparisons, and is expected to soon support additional modes of input including images, voice, and video.
According to Walmart officials, Sparky is trained on both public and proprietary data to generate product suggestions that better align with shoppers' intentions and context.
The assistant is already integrated with Walmart’s existing personalization systems, allowing it to surface relevant products and deals in real time.
The move reflects a larger trend among major retailers to bring generative AI into customer-facing experiences.
Amazon and Instacart have recently introduced similar AI features, though Walmart’s Sparky differentiates itself with its deeper connection to real-time inventory and Walmart-specific consumer behavior data.
Wally: The Merchant-Facing Counterpart
Sparky’s public debut builds on the groundwork laid by Wally, Walmart’s internal AI assistant for merchants and supply chain teams, launched in March 2025.
Wally allows Walmart employees to conduct natural language queries against the company's massive retail and logistics datasets. A merchant might ask, “Why are sales down for this SKU in Texas?” or “How did seasonal promotions impact inventory turns?” and receive structured, actionable insights.
Built using Walmart’s proprietary LLMs, Wally is fine-tuned for the company’s internal taxonomy and operational processes, making it an effective tool for employees without requiring advanced technical skills.
By giving merchants rapid access to data-driven diagnostics, Walmart aims to improve forecasting, reduce waste, and speed up decision-making—a critical edge in the highly competitive retail market.
The Road to Agentic AI
While Sparky and Wally represent the present of Walmart’s AI strategy, the company has been increasingly vocal about its plans for agentic AI—systems capable of autonomously planning, deciding, and executing tasks.
In an April investor presentation, CTO Suresh Kumar outlined Walmart’s roadmap to agentic systems that can complete entire customer or merchant workflows without manual prompts.
The retailer is experimenting with use cases such as AI agents that automatically reorder pantry items, plan event-related shopping lists, and even coordinate multi-vendor logistics for suppliers.
In April, Walmart revealed it was using agentic systems in its Trend to Shelf initiative, which accelerates fashion product launches by identifying emerging social trends and automatically generating product designs, specs, and supply chain triggers.
This program has reportedly shortened time-to-market by as much as 18 weeks.
Walmart is also investing heavily in automation and robotics to support this vision. In January, it sold its robotics division to automation firm Symbotic in a $200 million deal, a move analysts interpret as a consolidation of AI strategy—replacing hard-coded automation with more adaptive, AI-driven solutions.
Strategic Implications
By synchronizing its AI development across customer, merchant, and operational domains, Walmart is positioning itself not just as a retail behemoth, but as a technology-forward enterprise.
Sparky offers a visible, tangible experience for customers. Wally empowers internal teams with productivity gains. Together, they form the twin pillars of Walmart’s push toward agentic AI—a future where shopping journeys and backend operations are increasingly handled by autonomous digital agents.
The stakes are high. As Amazon, Target, and global retailers race to incorporate AI into their platforms, Walmart’s early investments and proprietary infrastructure may offer a durable competitive advantage.
