Klarna, a well-known payment service provider, is increasingly integrating AI tools into its operations. According to CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski, this shift has allowed the company to avoid hiring new employees for the past year. Despite this claim, Klarna currently has around 50 job openings worldwide, as reported by Techcrunch. This raises questions about the CEO’s statements.
Klarna has been utilizing AI for some time now. During a recent presentation of the company’s business figures, a virtual version of CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski, generated by AI, was used. This was intended to demonstrate that AI could eventually take over all jobs, including his own. According to Techcrunch, Klarna’s AI assistant, based on OpenAI’s ChatGPT, is already replacing the work of 700 customer service employees.
Siemiatkowski predicts that this trend will continue. In an interview with Bloomberg Television, he explained that the company is shrinking because employees are leaving through natural turnover and their positions are not being refilled. “People stay for about 5 years, so 20% leave each year, and since we’re not hiring new employees, we are simply shrinking,” said the Klarna CEO. As a result, the number of employees has decreased from 4,500 to 3,500 over the past year.
However, Siemiatkowski’s statements only partially reflect the company’s efforts to recruit new employees. Klarna’s career page currently lists over 50 open positions. Additionally, Klarna managers have been actively seeking new team members on LinkedIn throughout 2024. According to posts from new employees, Klarna has filled several positions in the past year, especially in areas such as policy, software development, and global partnerships.
Techcrunch reports that Klarna’s employee count has not actually decreased and remains the same as in 2021. John Craske, Klarna’s global press spokesperson, confirmed to the tech magazine, “Historically, between 2019 and 2022, we hired between one thousand and one and a half thousand employees annually. Now, we are not actively hiring to increase the workforce but are filling some key positions, primarily in the technical field.”
The discrepancy between Siemiatkowski’s statements and Klarna’s actual recruitment efforts might be related to the company’s planned IPO. Investors are closely monitoring Klarna’s business results. The company has reduced costs and is approaching profitability in 2024. By highlighting the integration of generative AI, Siemiatkowski might be aiming to present Klarna as particularly innovative and efficient. With 85 million customers worldwide and rapid expansion in the US, analysts currently value the company at approximately $14.6 billion, a crucial factor for success in the stock market.
In summary, while Klarna is indeed leveraging AI to optimize its operations, the company’s hiring practices suggest that it is still actively seeking new talent to fill important roles. The narrative of reducing workforce due to AI might be part of a broader strategy to position Klarna favorably ahead of its IPO.