Klarna’s CEO and co-founder, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, has acknowledged that the company’s heavy reliance on AI for customer support hasn’t gone as planned. Speaking at the company’s headquarters in Stockholm, he admitted that cutting costs had been too much of a priority, leading to a drop in service quality.
Klarna had paused hiring for more than a year while pushing forward with AI integration. Now, Siemiatkowski says it’s time to refocus. Siemiatkowski revealed that the company is returning to hiring customer service staff and testing a more flexible support model.
The pilot involves on-demand remote workers, such as university students or people living in less populated areas who can log in and help customers in a setup similar to Uber. At the moment, two agents are involved in this trial.
According to Siemiatkowski, many Klarna users are enthusiastic about the brand and might be interested in working with the company. He stressed the importance of always offering customers the choice to speak with a real person, highlighting that it’s vital not just for the brand’s image but for the company’s broader goals.
Although Klarna is pulling back from relying entirely on AI in customer support, it’s not walking away from the technology. The company is still integrating AI into other parts of its operations to improve efficiency and create tools such as virtual financial assistants. The assistant aims to help users find better deals on loans and insurance.
Siemiatkowski also noted that Klarna continues to work closely with OpenAI. Reflecting on their early partnership in 2023, he said they aimed to be OpenAI’s go-to testing ground, helping the AI company refine its tools.
The renewed focus on hiring follows a rocky period for Klarna. The company’s worth dropped to $6.7 billion in 2022 from 2021’s $45.6 billion. It has since bounced back, with IPO plans targeting a valuation of more than $15 billion—though that IPO has been delayed due to unstable market conditions.
Earlier in 2024, Klarna drew attention when it announced that AI systems had taken over the workload of 700 customer service agents. This move sent ripples through the customer service industry, causing shares of outsourcing giant Teleperformance SE to fall sharply.
Despite resuming recruitment, Klarna’s total workforce is still expected to decline over time through natural attrition. Siemiatkowski estimated that the number of employees could drop from 3,000 to about 2,500 within a year. Comparing himself jokingly to Elon Musk, he said he tends to be overly optimistic about timelines but believes these changes are coming soon, likely within the next year.
For AI firms like D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE: QBTS), Klarna’s willingness to keep integrating AI solutions into operations despite minor hiccups shows that the market is ready to embrace cutting-edge technologies that have the potential to improve service delivery while cutting costs.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE: QBTS) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/QBTS
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