Inside Walmart's US$1bn AI Upskilling Plan with Google

As AI reshapes business operations across sectors, major corporations are accelerating technology deployment alongside strategic workforce enablement programmes to maximise ROI on their AI investments.

Donna Morris, Chief People Officer of Walmart, highlights the competitive imperative of AI capability development when examining global markets.

In conversation with Fortune, she said: "Let's look at China. Five-year-olds are learning DeepSeek, and that says a lot about how they believe in capability building.

"What would it do to our US economy, if we all leaned into that opportunity?"

Walmart's billion-dollar AI integration strategy

Walmart is deploying AI tools enterprise-wide, backed by nearly US$1bn in technical training initiatives covering its 1.6 million employees.

The retailer's approach combines technology adoption with systematic capability building to ensure operational effectiveness.

The company has partnered with Google to launch the Google AI Professional Certificate, a programme designed to address the technical skills gap that could limit AI implementation success.

According to Google, the certificate addresses critical competency areas including communication, research, data analysis, content generation, planning and vibe coding. 

Walmart's implementation model provides employees with hands-on AI experimentation within their specific operational contexts through role-based technical training. This deployment follows the company's integration of AI systems across operations, including shop floor applications where AI-led task management tools have been introduced to optimise shift planning processes.

Donna said: "I think the interesting and also exciting thing with AI is it's almost job agnostic. Regardless of what job you're in, how I might use AI for my job might be different than you use it or somebody else uses it. So, why not equip everybody?"

Bridging the AI productivity gap

According to EY's 2025 Work Reimagined survey, while 88% of employees are now using AI, businesses are missing out on up to 40% of potential productivity gains. The data suggests that technology adoption alone does not guarantee optimal implementation outcomes.

To accelerate AI competitiveness, Google and the US Chamber of Commerce have launched a nationwide programme targeting small business owners in the US, focusing on revenue growth and productivity enhancement through AI tools.

The initiative aims to reduce the technical skills gap and position AI as essential business infrastructure.

Christopher Turner, Global Head of Knowledge and Information Products in Government Affairs and Public Policy at Google, told Forbes: "Your greatest risk is your competitor figuring out how to use this stuff faster than you."

AI-driven market valuation milestone

In February 2026, Walmart became the first retailer to achieve a trillion-dollar market valuation, with AI adoption serving as a key value driver.

Under former CEO Doug McMillon, the retail giant partnered with OpenAI to integrate shipping tools into AI-powered chatbots.

In a company statement, Walmart said: "The future of retail isn't about replacing human connection with machines; it's about using AI to remove friction and make everyday moments easier, smarter and more delightful."

These technology implementations have driven operational transformation across the business. Donna told Fortune that successful AI deployment requires "active engagement" in workforce enablement to realise the technology's full potential.

"We as big employers should be actively engaged in trying to equip our respective employees – in our case associates – to be prepared for a world that is AI enabled and automated or digitised," she continued.

"If all of us collectively leaned into our workforces, where might we be?"