Walmart pilots Agentic AI assistant for advertisers
Walmart is expanding its development and usage of leading-edge artificial intelligence solutions to its retail media network.
The discount giant has been beta testing what it calls an agentic AI "super agent" nicknamed “Marty since July 2025 with advertisers participating in its Walmart Connect retail media network (launched in 2021 as a revamped version of the Walmart Media Group).
Now in beta for sponsored search campaigns, Marty provides answers and actionable recommendations via conversational chat. Topics Marty can discuss include bidding, keywords, and billing, with personalized alerts.
Currently, Walmart advertisers can obtain access to four advanced research reports via chat: change analysis, account impression share of voice, account keyword impression share of voice, and account category benchmark opportunity.
In a corporate blog post, Walmart said its data indicates that 97% of Marty user queries are unique, which the retailer says is a sign that advertisers are using the assistant in highly personalized ways. The Marty advertising agent will be available to all sponsored search advertisers in the Walmart Connect ad center during the first half of 2026, with more enhanced capabilities and insights rolling out along the way.
Other AI-related offerings Walmart has been developing for Walmart Connect advertisers include:
- In fall 2025, Walmart tested its first advertising formats within its Sparky customer agent, which it will continue developing in 2026.
- Walmart is using generative AI to turn omnichannel retail data into actionable intelligence, such as end-of-campaign reports and path to conversion reports. This capability will be offered in the Walmart Connect Ad Center in fiscal year 2027. The retailer is also letting advertisers use generative AI to produce ready-to-activate ad creatives in minutes.
- Walmart says it is using newer forms of AI to efficiently scale and provide more strategic guidance to brands, such as a research assistant that instantly synthesizes documents for faster insights and automatically generated brand-specific insights newsletters provided by Walmart’s associate agent.
[READ MORE: Walmart introduces AI platform, 'super agents']
"We know we’re only scratching the surface of what’s possible," Khurrum Malik, VP, business & product marketing, Walmart Connect, said in the blog post. "We envision creative that builds itself from product pages and adapts across video, display, and in-store formats. Campaigns that not only target with precision but predict intent and optimize spend in the moment. Measurement that moves from reporting to real-time, predictive insight across every channel. AI is reshaping advertising, from how brands find customers to how decisions get made."
