AI labs pop up in Walmart stores

The next time you walk into a Walmart store, don’t be surprised if you find an artificial intelligence lab sitting right there. That’s right; Walmart has announced that it plans to launch an ‘Intelligent Retail Lab’ inside one of its stores in Levittown, New York. With the new AI lab, Walmart wants to test customer experiences, stocks of items, etc. For instance, Walmart has in mind to test AI for better identification of items that are running on low stock, so that it can fill it up.

The team behind the Intelligent Retail Lab is Walmart’s Kepler, housed with Walmart’s very own startup incubator Store No. 8. Nearly a year ago, Walmart had introduced Project Kepler that would be part of cashier-less stores. However, with the latest announcement, Walmart reveals that Kepler is in fact, the team behind the AI lab.

The Kepler team plans to use AI technology to better understand things like what’s wrong on the item's shelf, when are the shopping carts running low at the entrance, identify any spills, etc. Walmart has already begun installing software and bits of hardware for the Intelligent Retail Lab. Other pieces of tech gear required for testing the AI lab are also being brought in. Walmart has confirmed that the Kepler AI lab will be used for a wide range of capabilities inside a real grocery store and will be launched soon.