After two years of exploring generative AI, Walmart has successfully embedded the technology across its workflows, refining its deployment strategy and expanding the toolkit for both associates and developers. “In 2023, we were like ‘we want to go all in with AI,’ but we didn’t really know what that meant,” David Glick, SVP of enterprise business services at Walmart, told CIO Dive. The company faced challenges in balancing innovation with risk management, particularly concerning data privacy.
Balancing Innovation and Risk
Finding the right balance between innovation and risk is a challenge that enterprise leaders are familiar with. However, Walmart executives view the friction between technologists, information security professionals, and legal and compliance teams as a positive force that keeps the company on track. “We’re pushing and pulling every day,” Glick explained. “I’m negotiating, and I’m working very hard to make AI approachable while our legal team and compliance team or InfoSec team are working very hard to make it safe.” This collaborative approach has been crucial in ensuring that AI implementations are both innovative and secure.
Enhancing AI Deployment
One significant improvement over the past year has been the development of an ML platform called Element. This platform provides teams with visibility into cost, governance, and responsible practices while enabling scale and speed. “It allows only models that are compliant with our guidelines into production,” said Sravana Karnati, EVP of global technology platforms at Walmart. Additional guardrails have been implemented to ensure privacy and information security standards are met.
Expanding Developer Toolkit
As Walmart expanded developer access to coding assistance and completion tools in North America and India, the company relied on its existing multistage validation process and other guardrails to maintain accuracy and security standards. Code is thoroughly tested for accuracy, information security compliance, and lineage before being put into production. AI-powered tools also work behind the scenes to inspect code, identify potential issues, and suggest fixes when necessary.
AI Agents and Accessibility
Walmart has recently added AI agents to its expanding developer toolkit, including one designed to identify accessibility gaps in code. “We want to make sure that the services we put out on our e-commerce side are available for everybody to consume,” Karnati explained. This AI agent helps address the laborious task of retrofitting existing code to identify and fix accessibility issues.
Evolving Developer Experience
As AI becomes more integrated into workflows, Walmart is seeing a significant shift in how coding and software development are approached. Developers have had to adapt to AI being embedded in their work processes. To support this transition, Walmart offers its developers access to the Global Tech Academy, where they can interact with various training resources. The company also pairs senior engineers with early-career engineers to facilitate knowledge sharing and skill development.
Future of AI Adoption
The goal is for AI to become ubiquitous in daily work processes, with associates using it as part of their regular tasks. To achieve this, leaders are working to break down barriers to adoption and increase access points. “We’re throwing the doors wide open to generative AI,” Glick said, emphasizing the company’s commitment to leveraging AI technology to drive innovation and efficiency.
