Two Years After Job Cuts, Swedish Firm To Rehire Humans As AI Falls Short On Quality

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Last Updated:May 18, 2025, 20:33 IST

The Swedish fintech company, Klarna, had made headlines 2 years agone erstwhile it reduced its workforce successful favour of AI

Klarna CEO admitted that the prime of enactment done by AI agents was little than expected. (Represntational image)

A Swedish fintech institution that erstwhile embraced artificial quality (AI) astatine the outgo of quality jobs is present looking to rehire unit aft realising machines couldn’t rather regenerate people.

The Swedish fintech company, Klarna, had made headlines 2 years agone erstwhile it reduced its workforce successful favour of AI technology. In 2023, the institution halted recruitment altogether and leaned heavy into automation, partnering with OpenAI to powerfulness galore of its lawsuit work functions.

At the time, Klarna’s CEO, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, championed the decision, claiming AI could grip the aforesaid tasks arsenic quality employees. The institution said its AI systems were doing the enactment of 700 lawsuit work agents, and Siemiatkowski boasted astir redeeming $10 cardinal connected tasks specified arsenic translation, creation production, and information analysis.

In a caller interrogation reported by Futurism, the Klarna CEO admitted that the prime of enactment done by AI agents was little than expected. He acknowledged that relying excessively overmuch connected cost-cutting and automation had wounded the company’s lawsuit experience.

“From a marque perspective, a institution perspective. I conscionable deliberation it’s truthful captious that you are wide to your lawsuit that determination volition ever beryllium a quality if you want," Siemiatkowski said.

“As outgo unluckily seems to person been a excessively predominant valuation origin erstwhile organising this, what you extremity up having is little quality. Really investing successful the prime of the quality enactment is the mode of the aboriginal for us," helium added.

Klarna present plans to motorboat a caller hiring thrust to bring backmost quality workers, particularly successful customer-facing roles wherever empathy and judgement substance most. According to Bloomberg, Klarna is investigating a caller mode of hiring wherever radical tin enactment remotely, akin to however drivers enactment with Uber.

The company’s headcount had fallen from implicit 5,500 successful 2022 to conscionable 3,400 by the extremity of 2024, according to its IPO filing successful March.

The fintech institution is champion known for its “buy now, wage later" services which allows shoppers to wage up to 30 days aft placing an bid oregon making purchases successful 4 instalments without interest.

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News tech Two Years After Job Cuts, Swedish Firm To Rehire Humans As AI Falls Short On Quality