Walmart employees are reportedly taking on a new responsibility. As the retailer expands its use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in stores, the company may have asked its store staff to correct and clean up AI mistakes. The company is reportedly rolling out AI assistants that assign tasks and monitor store employees through the MyWalmart app. However, workers have claimed that the AI systems can sometimes miss the context needed to reflect how work is actually done in the stores.The AI rollout has also raised concerns about inaccurate task times, irrelevant safety alerts, and performance expectations. A store-level HR manager told Business Insider that an AI task-assigning agent “just assumes that they’re going to be perfect every single time.” However, Walmart says employee feedback is essential to improving the tools and that workers are not punished for failing to follow technology guidance.
How Walmart employees are dealing with AI-assigned tasks and errors
Workers at stores where the AI features have launched can receive tasks and targets through the MyWalmart app on company-provided phones. The system is intended to help associates plan their shifts and can learn from patterns in their work.Elizabeth Nigh, an asset protection manager in Wisconsin, told Business Insider that AI-generated task lists can help associates who otherwise have to wait for a manager to assign work. She said the system can learn where an employee works most effectively and reflect that in future assignments.Other workers said the technology does not always account for the steps involved in completing a task. Restocking shelves, for example, can require checking expiration dates, removing damaged products and cleaning dust or spills in addition to putting merchandise on shelves.The HR manager said her store does not discipline employees when AI-generated performance metrics do not match what happens in practice. “We’re not going to hold people to these impossible standards,” she said.An online fulfilment worker also told Business Insider that she has struggled to match the times projected by the AI app for picking general merchandise orders because its suggested routes can take workers through different parts of the store.The Walmart-owned Spark delivery service has also introduced a “smart path” feature that some drivers said can direct them to collect frozen products early in a shopping trip. One worker said this creates “extra time and energy I could be spending on the next order.”
Walmart AI safety alerts create another issue for workers
Walmart is also using an AI agent to monitor store safety through security cameras and sensors. The system can flag potential problems such as spills or refrigerators operating outside safe temperature ranges.Some workers said the system can generate alerts that require them to provide additional context or determine whether an issue actually needs attention. The online fulfilment worker said she receives numerous safety alerts through the Walmart app when using her personal phone to clock in and out.Her response to alerts she considers irrelevant is straightforward: “I ignore them.”Brooks Forrest, Walmart’s vice president for associate tools, said stores have flexibility in how they use the technology. “We do not punish people for not following the tech guidance,” he said.Forrest also said his team regularly visits stores and holds listening sessions to understand how the tools perform in real-world settings. “The technology is there to help them, but they ultimately have the say in what they do,” he said.
