Walmart exec says it’s ‘unfortunate’ that other companies are slashing workforces in the name of AI—they’re offering training to 1.6 million workers instead

The retail giant has just announced that its 1.6 million workforce will be provided free AI training. 

Both frontline and corporate staff in the U.S. and Canada will have access to an eight-hour course on the fundamentals of AI, as part of its partnership with Google’s new AI Professional Certification.

The training course covers core concepts as well as how AI connects to more niche topics like research, app building, and communication.

Walmart joins other major employers—including Verizon, Colgate-Palmolive, and Deloitte—in providing access to the Google credential to its workforce.

Just 5% of workers are AI fluent—Walmart’s chief people officer says it’s on employers to bridge the gap

The push comes as new research from Google and Ipsos, first reported by Fortune, highlights a widening skills gap. Just 40% of U.S. workers say they’re using AI on the job, and only 5% quality as “AI fluent,” meaning they’ve meaningfully redesigned or reorganized significant parts of their work around AI innovations. Those who are AI fluent were found to be 4.5x more likely to have received higher wages.

Donna Morris, Walmart’s chief people officer, said the gap represents both a risk and a responsibility.

“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 digitized,” Morris exclusively told Fortune ahead of the announcement, calling it “unfortunate” when companies lean on replace workers instead of training them for what’s ahead.

For Walmart, she added, the goal isn’t simply productivity—it’s about retaining talent for the long haul. Workers who build AI skills may be better positioned to move into higher-paying store leadership roles (top-performing regional managers, for example, earn between $420,000 and $620,000) or transition into corporate positions.

“We want to make sure that we equip all of our associates with the best tools to allow them to be successful as Walmart continues to reshape as a people-led, tech-powered company,” Morris added. “But equally so that each of our associates has the ability to navigate their own careers.”

Walmart executives believe AI will change every job—but not necessarily eliminate them

Corporate leaders across industries have been blunt about AI’s disruptive potential. Walmart’s bigwigs are no exception.

“It’s very clear that AI is going to change literally every job,” then-Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said last September. (McMillon transitioned out of the role earlier this month). 

The Arkansas-based company’s newly appointed top leader, John Furner, has signaled the company does not expect AI to trigger widespread workforce reductions.

“When we look out two years, three years, five years, where I think we’ll be is we’ll have roughly the same number of people we have today,” Furner told Fortune in September, when he was leading Walmart’s U.S. operations.

Instead of eliminating roles, Furner suggested AI will reshape them—and potentially make them more valuable.

“We’re extending people’s career and those jobs pay better,” Furner said. “The attrition rates are really low.”

Still, Morris emphasized that change is inevitable—but humans will remain center.

“We all have to change. That’s an ongoing need, but we all have the opportunity to lean into what that new future is,” Morris said. 

“I think new jobs will be created. I think new businesses will be created. I think the way we will do things will change. But that’s not to say that humans are going to be left behind.”