... to engage humans in customer service

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Klarna, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, has explained the company’s intention to employ human workers amid the utilization of artificial intelligence at workplace.

In a previous statement made, the CEO stated that Klarna employed artificial intelligence to perform tasks equivalent to those of 700 employees.

Speaking at the London SXSW recently, he stated, “It is possible for two statements to be accurate simultaneously.”

It is accurate that the company attempted to cease employing human workers a few years ago and implemented AI agents.

This contributed to the company’s revenue per employee and the reduction of customer support expenses, according to Siemiatkowski.

He stated that the company’s workforce has decreased from 5,500 employees two years ago to approximately 3,000.

He also stated that Klarna is currently looking to reinvest the majority of the savings into employee cash and equity compensation, as the company’s salary costs have decreased.

However, he maintained that this does not imply that there is no opportunity for humans to work at his company.

“He compared it to the fact that people pay a premium for clothing that is hand-stitched rather than machine-stitched,” he said, “and we believe that providing human customer service will always be a VIP experience.”

“Therefore, we believe that it is feasible to handle two tasks concurrently.”

We will guarantee our consumers a human connection, while also utilizing AI to eliminate tedious tasks and manual labor.

He discussed the company’s strategy for achieving a harmonious balance between human and AI employees.

Siemiatkowski stated that the company’s engineering positions have not experienced as much reduction as those in other departments at present; however, he acknowledges that this may change in the future.

He stated, “Internally, I am observing a new trend of businesspeople who are coding independently.”

He also noted that the primary obstacle faced by many engineers is their lack of business acumen.

Siemiatkowski maintained, “I believe that category of individuals will become even more valuable in the future, particularly as they can leverage AI and leverage their business acumen.”

He stated that this has facilitated Klarna’s transformation into a more successful organization.

Previously, he believed that he would never be able to gain the necessary knowledge to play a more active role in the company’s database conversations.

He explained that he employs ChatGPT as a private tutor, stating, “I will take a Slack thread and throw it in ChatGPT and say, ‘This makes sense, right?'”

Siemiatkowski stated, “And AI is undoubtedly expediting this process.”

Siemiatkowski also reiterated the rationale behind the company’s decision to discontinue its use of Salesforce and Workday, stating that Klarna sought to streamline its data in order to facilitate its integration with AI.

For instance, he stated that Klarna would be required to navigate the Google Suite, Slack, Workday, Salesforce, and other platforms in order to collect information about one of its clients.

He stated, “We have come to the realization that the sole viable course of action is to consolidate data.”

Subsequently, the organization discontinued approximately 1,200 software services.

Regarding its forthcoming initial public offering? He suggested that Klarna could proceed with the project in the near future, but he was otherwise uncommitted.

“I am pleased to report that the market is experiencing less volatility,” he stated with a smile.