Walmart is introducing dedicated Agent Profiles, an Agent Gateway and operating terms for AI agents that shop on behalf of customers. The profiles, due to launch within a month, will separate agent purchases from the rest of a customer's account activity. Customers will be able to require approval for every purchase or set a spending limit, then review or delete each agent profile.
The gateway is intended to replace brittle browser-based shopping with a machine-facing connection. Walmart says it will help agents find a customer's usual products without exposing the broader purchase history to the agent. Its terms state that customers approve purchases by default, agents cannot add or change payment methods, and agents receive only information needed for the permitted task. Non-compliant agents may be blocked. The announcement matters beyond retail because it translates abstract agent governance into recognisable controls: a distinct identity, scoped permissions, transaction limits, revocation and a visible audit trail. Banks and payment providers will still need to resolve liability and authorisation standards, but Walmart's design gives the market a useful reference for how delegated digital activity can preserve customer control.
