Walmart sees four AI trends dominant in 2025
Walmart Inc. has released an official forecast of how it expects companies to react to the continuing evolution of artificial intelligence in 2025.
The discount giant’s "AI Trends Outlook 2025" focuses on four key areas: Practical AI and ROI; industry-tuned foundational models; misinformation, disinformation and regulation; scaling and adopting AI across enterprises; and generative AI.
Following are highlights of how Walmart sees each trend unfolding in 2025:
Practical AI and ROI take center stage
According to Walmart, 2025 will be the year companies are expected to deliver meaningful ROI from their AI investments. The focus will shift to AI systems that provide measurable outcomes rather than novelty.
Walmart expects that companies will zero in on applications that enhance operational efficiency, reduce costs or generate clear revenue streams, with a massive shift from experimental spending to investments in AI solutions with proven, practical benefits.
Industry-tuned foundation models
Walmart predicts that 2025 will see deeper investments in industry-specific large language models (LLMs) and optimizing proprietary data. In addition, small language models (SLMs) will be fine-tuned for specific tasks to drive more efficiency.
Misinformation, disinformation and regulation
Walmart anticipates that 2025 will bring increased focus on regulating AI’s role in producing and managing content. Growing concerns around AI-driven misinformation, disinformation and malinformation will likely lead regulators to explore guidelines for labeling AI-generated content and encourage greater public awareness of the differences between human- and AI-produced information.
The company advises to expect public-private collaboration to explore ways to strengthen information integrity and support public understanding through digital literacy efforts.
[READ MORE: Walmart commits to secure, transparent AI usage]
Scaling and adopting AI across enterprises
Enterprises will shift from trial phases to long-term, enterprise-wide AI strategies with dedicated resources for expanding customer tech literacy and adoption, according to Walmart. As part of this shift, companies are expected to take on the responsibility to train and educate employees and customers about the benefits of AI.
Generative AI matures
As companies gain a clearer sense of where generative AI performs best, Walmart expects they will shift from viewing it as a one-size-fits-all solution to deploying it as an operational enhancer, with its greatest value coming through embedding it into existing tools and workflows to create new experiences and capabilities.
This shift means that 2025 is expected to see generative AI as a foundational layer of intelligence that elevates workflows across the enterprise.
