Walmart hired Instacart executive Daniel Danker in the newly created role as Vice President of AI Acceleration for the Bentonville-based retail giant. Danker will report directly to CEO Doug McMillon.
“We look forward to working with Daniel and these changes will strengthen our business and improve the experience of our customers, members and peers,” MacMillon said on social media.
Dunker made the announcement on his social media page on Wednesday (July 23rd).
“An unforgettable 4.5 years later, I'm closing my time as Chief Product Officer,” wrote Dunker. “When Instacart became an integral part of family and retailers overnight, I was part of a global crisis. There was an incredible transformation that followed. From grocery delivery to full platforms serving retailers, brands and customers across every part of the food journey. We built new products, defined what modern commerce looks like, transformed into a public company.”
Danker will lead the adoption of AI at Walmart, in addition to overseeing the product and design team. He said that developing technologies that enrich the lives of consumers has been his passion for a long time. He said Walmart is special because few companies are bold or effective in adopting change and technology.
“On the eve of another transformation, AI will enable us to reform our commerce in a whole new way and serve our customers and communities. I am excited and honored to help Doug McMillon and our team unlock this next chapter,” Danker said.
Danker has also been involved in product development for Facebook and Uber, and spent 10 years as Director of Engineering and Operations at Microsoft.
Walmart isn't just deepening the bench of AI executives. MetaPlatforms (owner of Facebook and Instagram) recently hired two top executives, APIING and OpenAI, to accelerate the capabilities of AI.
