Is Walmart CEO Doug McMillan Right? Will AI Change All Jobs?

According to a 2025 C-Suite Survey by Thompson Reuters Institute, 62% of the 200 business leaders that took part see AI as a top priority in their business strategy.

The large majority of 85% said that they believe AI will have a "transformational impact” on their businesses over the next five years, however there are concerns from workers within companies over the rate at which AI could be replacing human workers.

AI has already started to change Walmart, using tools such as the GenAI ‘conversational AI’, which receives three million queries a day with more than 900,000 weekly users - Walmart reported in August.

But Doug McMillon, Walmart CEO, isn’t sugar coating the fact that he believes AI will take the place of some jobs and reshape workforces.

“It’s very clear that AI is going to change literally every job”, Doug said this week during a workforce conference with other business leaders at Walmart's Bentonville headquarters.

“Maybe there’s a job in the world that AI won’t change, but I haven’t thought of it”, he added.

The Wall Street Journal reported that companies including JPMorgan, Chase and Amazon have predicted job losses associated with AI, with some telling their workforces to prepare for change.

Keeping Walmart’s human work force 

Walmart, the US’ largest private employer, has incorporated AI technology into its strategy for over five years.

In August the retailer released a report on AI that technological innovations have been built not just for scale but for people, stating they have invested in “pay and benefits, expanded training and development programmes and introduced new pathways to career growth”.

It states that the technology enables associates to “focus more on the customer and feel more connected and confident at work”.

Responding to questions about the fear of AI affecting Walmart workers, Doug told the Associated Press (AP) at the conference: “We continue to invest in wages, so I think that’s helping some, and that process will continue.

“As it relates to AI and the future of employment, I think for the most part, our folks are enthusiastic about it because they’ve seen new tools that they’re receiving that are making their jobs better.

“And our sales are growing so much. I think people are optimistic about the future of what their life can look like.”

Discussing specific roles that may be under threat from the increased use of AI, Doug admitted that he can’t predict how it will play out and he doesn't think that there will ever be a precise moment of clarity.

To mitigate concerns, he recommends people lean into their roles to adopt new tools, leverage them and embrace the improvements AI brings:  “I think the way for all of us to approach it, especially here at Walmart, is just in a very transparent, honest, straightforward way, talking to people in real time about what we’re learning and what we’re doing and why we’re doing this.”

AI in the hands of other CEOs

Across industries, AI is improving growth and efficiency, ramping up productivity and enabling employees and organisations to deliver more strategic outcomes. 

Marc Benioff, Salesforce CEO, said that the US$248bn company has cut about 4,000 customer service jobs as AI agents are replacing them, according to Fortune in September.

The CEO revealed on The Logan Bartlett Show podcast: “I was able to rebalance my headcount on my support, I’ve reduced it from 9,000 heads to about 5,000, because I need less heads.”

He said that he doesn’t see his AI-human workforce as dystopian because it's the “reality”.

However, Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO, said in an interview with video journalist Cleo Abram in August that he’s envious of young people as current early-career roles will look “boring by comparison”.

“In 2035, that graduating college student, if they still go to college at all, could very well be leaving on a mission to explore our solar system on a spaceship in some completely new, exciting, super well paid, super intelligent job”, he added.

The AI CEO recognised that although AI will cause current job losses, there are more jobs that will develop for humans that currently don’t exist.

At the Walmart-led conference, Doug said: “Our goal is to create the opportunity for everybody to make it to the other side” - aiming to maintain a head count of around 2.1 million workers.