Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
Read more
Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski has announced plans to beef up its human customer service team after artificial intelligence replaced 700 workers.
The “buy now, pay later” company’s use of AI to cut jobs came after a dismal fundraising round, in which its valuation dropped to $6.7 billion. To put it in context, Klarna’s valuation peaked at $45.6 billion in 2021.
But now, Siemiatkowski has suggested that the AI job cuts have led to “lower quality” customer service and is backpedaling by vowing to hire more humans.
The executive recently announced at Klarna’s Stockholm headquarters that a new hiring pilot is underway, in which customer service workers will be “in an Uber type of setup,” per Bloomberg.
These remote workers will eventually replace “the few thousand human agents” that are outsourced by the firm.
open image in gallery
So far, only two customer service employees from this pilot have begun work.
“I just think it’s so critical that you are clear to your customer that there will be always a human if you want,” said Siemiatkowski, a Swedish fintech entrepreneur who co-founded the company.
The CEO reflected on Klarna’s previous shift in focus from human agents and to AI.
“As cost unfortunately seems to have been a too predominant evaluation factor when organizing this, what you end up having is lower quality,” he said.
Siemiatkowski continued: “Really investing in the quality of the human support is the way of the future for us.”
open image in gallery
But this doesn’t mean the company won’t continue to use AI in other areas. Siemiatkowski mentioned that Klarna will use AI to improve efficiency in its software.
In the meantime, the firm hopes to recruit people from rural areas, students and others to fill the new jobs.
“We also know there are tons of Klarna users that are very passionate about our company and would enjoy working for us,” Siemiatkowski added.