Walmart says it won't let algorithms decide what you personally pay - not even through its new AI assistant.
In a letter to customers posted September 25, CEO John Furner pledged that Walmart will not use a shopper's income, purchase history, or sense of urgency to set a different price for the same item. The promise explicitly covers Sparky, the retailer's AI-powered shopping assistant, closing off a scenario where a chatbot might quietly upsell based on what it knows about you. Furner summed it up in one line: "We price the product, not the person." Same price, every shopper, no algorithmic exceptions.
Personalized pricing is the uncomfortable subtext of every AI shopping tool: the same technology that recommends products could just as easily calculate the highest price a shopper will tolerate. By ruling it out in writing, and naming Sparky specifically, Furner is getting ahead of a question shoppers are only beginning to ask retailers with AI assistants - whose interest is the bot actually working for?
A public promise is worth more than silence, but it's still not a technical safeguard - it just means someone will notice if Walmart ever changes its mind.