Well everyone is desperate to show that they’ve built and deployed some AI thing. Few have done so and demonstrated meaningful value that justifies all the expense of doing it.

That is spot on.

They forgot the first thing. Why would a customer use it and does it help them buy more stuff so I make more money?

Just putting an AI in there for the heck of it is doomed to failure.

I can think of a few different ways AI could be used inside a shopping app especially at the size of a company like walmart. Such as 'hey try our picknick planner?', 'need some sort of DIY project? Ask our bot for help'. Guide the user on what they need for a project and hey look here we have that stuff in stock at your local store today.

The cart experience one of the last places I would put an AI. At that point the customer is 'done' and they want out.