In 2022, Klarna, the Swedish fintech company, fired 700 employees in a move that quickly turned controversial. The layoffs were announced through a pre-recorded video, and worse, the CEO publicly shared personal data of the affected staff. Klarna soon pivoted to AI, claiming its OpenAI-powered assistant could handle the work of all those laid off employees. But just two years later, the company is walking back that bold decision.
AI didn’t deliver the promised quality
Klarna initially praised its AI assistant for performing like a full human team, claiming it matched agents in customer satisfaction scores. But according to CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski, the decision was based too heavily on cost-cutting, and the outcome was a “lower quality” customer experience. As a result, Klarna is now investing again in human customer support.
A new model: on-demand human workers
The company now aims to follow an Uber-style employment structure. New human agents will be able to log in and work remotely, offering more flexibility. Klarna targets students and people in rural areas—cheaper labor pools rather than trained professionals. It’s a clear shift toward reducing costs while trying to regain service quality.
AI cuts jobs but creates new ones too
Klarna’s trajectory mirrors what’s happening across tech. IBM, for example, replaced 8,000 jobs with AI but hired new programmers and salespeople. AI handles routine tasks, but companies still need humans—especially to build, guide, and fix what AI can’t do alone. Klarna still plans to reduce its workforce to 2,500, but it has learned: some jobs just can’t be replaced by algorithms.