Walmart says ‘open partnerships’ are central to its AI strategy, while Amazon goes it alone

This story was first published by Digiday sibling Modern Retail.

Six years ago, independent technology analyst Ben Thompson, who authors the Stratechery newsletter, wrote, “Everyone in commerce is, whether they realize it or not, in the Anti-Amazon Alliance.” At the time, he was describing how retailers and tech companies were increasingly banding together to give merchants and shoppers ways to sell and buy online without relying entirely on Amazon.

Today, it also captures Walmart’s latest push into artificial intelligence, as the retailer leans into partnerships, while its biggest rival, Amazon, takes a more closed approach.

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‘Intentionally being cautious’: Why the ad industry isn’t ready to let AI agents spend ad dollars

Large language models – the ChatGPT class of AI – are welcome almost everywhere except where ad dollars are actually spent.

Yes, it sounds contrarian. Planning, buying and optimization autonomously by LLM-powered agents are always framed as just over the horizon. 

In practice, that switch remains conspicuously off. 

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