Walmart CEO Issues Wake-Up Call: 'AI Is Going to Change Literally Every Job'

It's the world's largest companies by revenue. But Walmart's executives have a blunt message, reports the Wall Street Journal: 'Artificial intelligence will wipe out jobs and reshape its workforce.'

'It's very clear that AI is going to change literally every job,' Chief Executive Doug McMillon said this week in one of the most pointed assessments to date from a big-company CEO on AI's likely impact on employment... 'Maybe there's a job in the world that AI won't change, but I haven't thought of it.'

Inside Walmart, top executives have started to examine AI's implications for its workforce in nearly every high-level planning meeting. Company leaders say they are tracking which job types decrease, increase and stay steady to gauge where additional training and preparation can help workers. 'Our goal is to create the opportunity for everybody to make it to the other side,' McMillon said. For now, Walmart executives say the transformation means the size of its global workforce will stay roughly flat even as its revenue climbs. It plans to maintain its head count of around 2.1 million global workers over the next three years, but the mix of those jobs will change significantly, said Donna Morris, Walmart's chief people officer. What the composition will look like remains murky... Already Walmart has built chat bots, which it calls 'agents,' for customers, suppliers and workers. It is also tracking an expanding share of its supply chain and product trends with AI...

Some changes are already rippling across the workforce. In recent years Walmart has automated many of its warehouses with the help of AI-related technology, triggering some job cuts, executives said. Walmart is also looking to automate some back-of-store tasks. New roles have been established, too. Walmart, for example, created an 'agent builder' position last month — an employee who builds AI tools to help merchants. It expects to add people in areas like home delivery or in high-touch customer positions, such as its bakeries. The company has also added more in-store maintenance technicians and truck drivers in recent years.
The article also a comment made by Ford Motor Chief Executive Jim Farley earlier this summer. 'Artificial intelligence is going to replace literally half of all white-collar workers in the U.S.'

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