Inside Walmart’s AI Journey - From Pilots to Scale

Scaling AI in retail is not about experimentation anymore. It is about execution.

In this episode of The Retail Tales, host Saurabh sits down with Aaron Berg, Vice President of Digital Transformation at Walmart, for a candid conversation on what it truly takes to move AI from pilots to enterprise-scale impact inside one of the world’s most complex retail organizations.

Drawing from Aaron’s journey across finance, corporate development, operations, and digital transformation, the discussion goes deep into how Walmart approaches AI as a long-term capability rather than a series of disconnected experiments.

 Together, they explore:

• How AI moved from experimentation to strategic priority at Walmart
• Why many retail AI initiatives stall in “pilot purgatory” and never scale
• The often-overlooked hidden costs of AI across data, governance, adoption, and change management
• Where AI is creating the most meaningful impact across the retail value chain
• How leaders should think about build vs buy decisions for AI capabilities
• The balance between ambition, responsibility, and human judgment in AI adoption

The episode concludes with a fast-paced Lightning Round, offering Aaron’s unfiltered perspectives on AI myths, unpopular opinions, capital allocation, and what success in retail AI should look like.

This conversation is essential listening for retail leaders, technology executives, and AI practitioners who are serious about moving beyond pilots and building AI that scales.

Listen now on ⁠Spotify⁠ or ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠.

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