Klarna embraces AI, freezes hiring
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN — Swedish fintech company Klarna has announced a hiring freeze across most departments as it shifts focus towards artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities.
The hiring freeze comes 18 months after Klarna laid off hundreds of staff during a tech downturn in 2022. Klarna recently turned its first quarterly profit in four years.
Klarna, an early ChatGPT adopter, applies the AI tool to streamline customer service and order disputes. CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski envisions the app evolving into a virtual financial assistant.
“Things that previously took people a lot of time can be done much faster and much shorter, and we need fewer people to do the same thing. The right thing for us is just to say: ‘Let’s not recruit now, let’s see how this plays out’,” Siemiatkowski told The Telegraph.
While not currently planning layoffs and not hiring apart from engineers, Siemiatkowski expects AI-driven productivity gains to gradually “shrink” the workforce as attrition continues without replacement hiring.
He acknowledged the threat posed by AI to multiple job categories. While experts say AI will reshape the workforce, most believe human labor will still be necessary in many roles. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon recently predicted that advancements in AI could enable shorter workweeks for future generations.
Headquartered in Stockholm with over 5,000 global employees, Klarna offers popular “buy now, pay later” installment payment services.
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