[Sweden] Klarna claims AI agent can do the work of 853 employees

The CEO of the Swedish buy now, pay later fintech Klarna has claimed that its AI customer service agent can now do the work of more than 853 full-time agents, Yahoo reports.

Klarna CEO and co-founder Sebastian Siemiatkowski made the claim during a Q3 2025 earnings call, stating that the figure has risen from 700 at the beginning of the year. 

Mr Siemiatkowski reportedly said that the AI agent has saved the company $60 million. 

“We continue to see very demonstrable value from Klarna's AI assistant,” he said “We continue to invest in this.”

Klarna’s boasts come in the wake of criticism that it “overpivoted on their AI strategy,” Kate Leggett - VP principal analyst at Forrester - said. 

In 2024, in preparation for an IPO, Klarna rolled out its AI agent, made staff lay-offs and paused hiring. However, the company reverted to human customer service representatives in May. 

That month, Mr Siemiatkowski reportedly said that customers should always have the option to speak with a human. Klarna subsequently started hiring for what Mr Siemiatkowski called an “Uber-type” customer service workforce.

“They overpivoted to cost containment, without thinking about the longer-term impact of customer experience. If you have a poor customer experience, at some point, customers are going to get fed up and leave,” Ms Leggett said. “They’re almost the poster child for bad AI deployment.”

Customer complaints noted that the AI agent provided generic answers and was unable to answer more complicated, more nuanced questions, according to Ms Leggett. 

In an effort to automate a significant chunk of its customer service, Klarna reportedly laid off customer service representatives with institutional knowledge.

Complaints regarding AI might seem to contradict Klarna’s claims of success, but Ms Leggett states that it may come down to what its AI agent can handle. AI agents are generally good at handling simple questions, such as how to reset a password, and can respond quickly.

“A lot of the questions they get are highly repetitive and fairly simple, and that’s a perfect candidate for AI,” she said. “The simple inquiries will get fully automated. The more nuanced questions will fall to your human customer service workers.”

Source: Yahoo

(Links and quotes via original reporting)

The CEO of the Swedish buy now, pay later fintech Klarna has claimed that its AI customer service agent can now do the work of more than 853 full-time agents, Yahoo reports.

Klarna CEO and co-founder Sebastian Siemiatkowski made the claim during a Q3 2025 earnings call, stating that the figure has risen from 700 at the beginning of the year. 

Mr Siemiatkowski reportedly said that the AI agent has saved the company $60 million. 

“We continue to see very demonstrable value from Klarna's AI assistant,” he said “We continue to invest in this.”

Klarna’s boasts come in the wake of criticism that it “overpivoted on their AI strategy,” Kate Leggett - VP principal analyst at Forrester - said. 

In 2024, in preparation for an IPO, Klarna rolled out its AI agent, made staff lay-offs and paused hiring. However, the company reverted to human customer service representatives in May. 

That month, Mr Siemiatkowski reportedly said that customers should always have the option to speak with a human. Klarna subsequently started hiring for what Mr Siemiatkowski called an “Uber-type” customer service workforce.

“They overpivoted to cost containment, without thinking about the longer-term impact of customer experience. If you have a poor customer experience, at some point, customers are going to get fed up and leave,” Ms Leggett said. “They’re almost the poster child for bad AI deployment.”

Customer complaints noted that the AI agent provided generic answers and was unable to answer more complicated, more nuanced questions, according to Ms Leggett. 

In an effort to automate a significant chunk of its customer service, Klarna reportedly laid off customer service representatives with institutional knowledge.

Complaints regarding AI might seem to contradict Klarna’s claims of success, but Ms Leggett states that it may come down to what its AI agent can handle. AI agents are generally good at handling simple questions, such as how to reset a password, and can respond quickly.

“A lot of the questions they get are highly repetitive and fairly simple, and that’s a perfect candidate for AI,” she said. “The simple inquiries will get fully automated. The more nuanced questions will fall to your human customer service workers.”

Source: Yahoo

(Links and quotes via original reporting)