Walmart launches Sparky shopping AI

Walmart said on June 6 it is rolling out Sparky, a generative artificial intelligence shopping assistant, across categories in its app. (corporate.walmart.com) The feature appears as an “Ask Sparky” button in the Walmart app and lets shoppers type natural-language questions instead of relying only on a search bar. Walmart said Sparky can answer product questions, compare options, summarize reviews, and suggest items for specific occasions. (corporate.walmart.com) Walmart’s examples were practical and broad: a shopper can ask what teams are playing that night and get a jersey recommendation, or check beach weather and get outfit suggestions. The company said the tool is available across all categories starting that week. (corporate.walmart.com) The basic idea is to shift shopping from keyword search to conversation. Instead of scrolling through pages of results, Sparky is designed to turn a request like planning dinner, fixing a faucet, or organizing a party into a shorter list of products and actions. (corporate.walmart.com) Walmart had signaled the move a week earlier, when its United States chief technology officer Hari Vasudev said the company was building purpose-built “agentic” tools for item comparison, personalization, and shopping-journey completion inside its shopping assistant. He said the system uses Walmart data alongside large language models to tailor responses. (corporate.walmart.com) The company had also previewed Sparky at its April 9, 2025 investment meeting, where management said the assistant could help customers explore products, plan a birthday party, or complete a weekly shopping mission, and would soon be available to all app and site users. (corporate.walmart.com) Walmart is treating Sparky as more than a chat feature. In its June 6 announcement, the company said future versions will add automatic reordering, service booking, and the ability to understand images, audio, and video. (corporate.walmart.com) Executives have been even more explicit about the role they want it to play. On Walmart’s August 21, 2025 earnings call, then-chief executive Doug McMillon said Sparky would become the company’s “primary digital vehicle” for discovery, shopping, and managing reorders and returns. (finance.yahoo.com) The broader retail backdrop has shifted in the same direction. OpenAI and Walmart said in March 2026 that Walmart had debuted an in-platform shopping experience in ChatGPT backed by Sparky, after OpenAI pulled back from handling checkout itself and refocused on product discovery. (retaildive.com) New consumer research suggests shoppers are using artificial intelligence earlier in the buying process than before, but still hesitate to hand over the final purchase. Search Engine Land reported April 27 that 77% of people use AI for shopping, while nearly 1 in 3 will not let it spend money for them. (searchengineland.com)