Adapted by:
Ricardo Aguilar
WriterMobile tech writer and analyst. I studied Psychology, but I've been working in the consumer tech field for the last 10 years. Interested in motor projects and new forms of mobility.
Karen Alfaro
WriterCommunications professional with a decade of experience as a copywriter, proofreader, and editor. As a travel and science journalist, I've collaborated with several print and digital outlets around the world. I'm passionate about culture, music, food, history, and innovative technologies.
In 2022, the European tech giant Klarna—one of the world’s leading digital payment companies—replaced 700 workers with a chatbot. According to Klarna, within one month of implementing the system, the chatbot handled two-thirds of all customer service chats.
The company said, “It is doing the equivalent work of 700 full-time agents.” Now, Klarna is once again flirting with the idea of using AI to replace leadership—this time, its CEO, Sebastian Siemiatkowski.
It’s not me. It’s an avatar. Klarna presented its first-quarter 2025 results without its CEO. Instead, the company used a virtual version of Siemiatkowski. The video begins with full transparency: “It’s me, or rather my AI avatar.”
Siemiatkowski remains Klarna’s CEO, but the company wanted to showcase its dedication to AI by using a digital stand-in to deliver its earnings presentation.
I recommend watching the video, as the avatar is impressively realistic—nothing like a clunky Meta-style model. Slight audio-sync issues and a lack of natural blinking give away the truth. Still, the avatar could easily fool most viewers.
A strong commitment to AI systems. Klarna says it can now provide customer service primarily through chatbot integration. At the time of the layoffs, the company said the chatbot was “on par with human agents in regard to customer satisfaction score” and “more accurate in errand resolution.”
Some users disagreed. Gergely Orosz, creator of the newsletter The Pragmatic Engineer, argued that the chatbot mostly recited documents. The most curious part? When it couldn’t find an answer, it simply suggested talking to a human.
The company stated:
“Klarna is setting the standard for practical AI deployment—and the payoff is compounding fast. Since 2022, Klarna has streamlined its workforce by ~40% while raising the share of tech employees from 36% in 2022 to 52% in Q1 2025. 96% of employees use AI daily—helping drive a 152% increase in revenue per employee since Q1’23 and putting Klarna on track to reach $1 million in revenue per employee. AI is slashing costs across the business, most noticeable in customer service, where costs per transaction have dropped by 40% since Q1’23 whilst maintaining customer satisfaction levels.”
Humans are still needed. In February 2025, Siemiatkowski admitted that AI will never match human talent. He noted that the bot responds faster but mainly offers documentation snippets and lacks true understanding of the content.
Click on the image to view the original post on X.
He said on X that Klarna would now focus on being the best at offering real people to talk to—essentially, rehiring the staff that the chatbot had replaced.
They’re not alone. Just weeks ago, IBM announced a new hiring wave after replacing 8,000 workers with AI. That’s a unique case: IBM automated 94% of its human resources tasks, and those positions won’t return. But the cost savings are funding new recruitment for programming and sales roles.
Some companies insist that replacing staff with AI was the right move. Others have publicly backtracked, even admitting on LinkedIn that the decision was a mistake. Now, even executives worry they could be next.
Image | Klarna
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