A reported audit of 51 large U.S. retailers examined their published rules for AI shopping agents. Walmart, by contrast, announced a system with per-agent profiles, purchase approvals and spending limits, plus a planned gateway beta for companies and developers.
What the retailer audit counted
CNBC reported that Billions Network and AmanTrue examined retailers’ published access rules. Its account listed 11 retailers with deliberate positions on AI agents, five with explicit restrictions and 37 whose rules blocked shopping agents largely through older bot policies. Those are separate reported counts, not parts of a confirmed breakdown.
The audit looked at written rules, not whether technical systems actually stopped an agent. Some rules named a particular bot; others restricted third-party bots at login, registration or checkout. CNBC cited Chewy’s rule against an Amazon bot as an example of a targeted restriction.
The customer controls Walmart announced
Walmart announced a separate Agent Profile for each shopping agent, so customers could distinguish agent purchases from their other orders. Its announcement of the profiles and their terms describes several ways customers could set limits on an agent’s authority:
| Control | What Walmart announced |
| Separate profile | Customers could create a dedicated Agent Profile for each agent and view its purchases separately from other orders. |
| Purchase approval | Customers could require approval for every purchase or set a spending limit. Walmart gave $50, $100 and $200 as examples, and said it might still request approval for a purchase within a limit. |
| Payment methods | The agent would not receive payment-card information and could not add or change payment methods. |
| Turning access off | Customers could turn off an Agent Profile. |
| Returns | Walmart said its returns process would apply to agent purchases, including when an agent did not act as intended. |
| Shopping information | Walmart said an agent could receive a customer’s usual items without broader shopping history or personal information. Walmart’s privacy notice applies to information the agent provides to Walmart; the agent provider’s privacy policy applies to information a customer shares with its app. |
The spending amounts are examples of customer-set limits, not prices for products. Walmart also said it could ask for additional approval even when a purchase fell within the customer’s limit.
Walmart’s planned connection for agents
Walmart described its Agent Gateway as an MCP-based connection that would let agents shop without navigating the standard website as a person would. The company said browser-based shopping could be slow and error-prone for agents, and that the Gateway was planned to begin with a beta for companies and developers.
In its October 21, 2026 announcement, Walmart said Agent Profiles were planned for November. The announcement described the Gateway beta as a plan for companies and developers.
