From self-healing inventory to region-specific product curation, Walmart is ramping up its global AI deployment to tackle overstock, streamline perishable logistics, and elevate responsiveness in real time.
AI Takes Root Across Walmart’s International Hubs
Walmart is scaling artificial intelligence and automation across its global supply chain, implementing smart systems that respond to local inventory signals and dynamic logistics conditions. In Costa Rica, predictive AI is being used to determine optimal delivery routes for fresh produce, helping to reduce spoilage and improve lead time accuracy. In Mexico City, the retailer has deployed “self-healing” inventory platforms that autonomously redirect goods away from overstocked facilities to those in need. Calgary, Alberta is now home to anomaly-spotting AI that flags irregularities in order coordination.
These tools are part of a broader initiative led by Walmart International CTO Vinod Bidarkoppa to move beyond static decision-making. “At this scale, the only way to move faster is to move smarter,” Bidarkoppa said. The systems rely on live inputs from store operations, transport data, and inventory levels, enabling continuous rebalancing without human bottlenecks.
Generative and Agentic AI Fuel Hyper-Local Decisions
Walmart is also piloting generative and agentic AI applications to close the loop between demand sensing and inventory planning. Generative models are being used to analyze regional sales trends and social media behavior, refining the assortment mix based on hyper-local preferences. Meanwhile, store associates are using agentic AI to inspect inbound shipments in real time, identifying shorted deliveries before they impact shelf availability.
The expansion builds on Walmart’s multi-year automation strategy. In 2024, the company announced five automated distribution centers dedicated to fresh food fulfillment in the U.S., aimed at strengthening its e-commerce grocery operations. More recently, in June 2025, Walmart unveiled plans to scale drone delivery across 100 additional stores in metro areas such as Houston, Atlanta, and Orlando, highlighting its broader logistics digitization effort.
Smart Systems Don’t Eliminate Risk, They Redistribute It
While Walmart’s AI network enables unprecedented agility, it also shifts the risk profile across the supply chain. When routing and inventory decisions are increasingly made by autonomous agents, dependencies on data accuracy, sensor reliability, and upstream visibility intensify. If a signal is wrong, or delayed, the margin for error moves downstream fast. As other multinationals eye similar transformations, resilience will hinge not just on automation, but on the robustness of the data ecosystems that feed it.
