Klarna Pivots Back To Humans After AI Experiment Fails

Fintech startup Klarna is now recruiting humans after its AI customer service agents underperformed. The buy-now-pay-later company, which eliminated its marketing contracts in 2023 and customer service team in 2024, now plans an 'Uber-type setup' with remote gig workers.

This marks a stark reversal from CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski's 2024 claim that 'AI can already do all of the jobs that we, as humans, do.' Siemiatkowski told Bloomberg: 'From a brand perspective, I just think it's so critical that you are clear to your customer that there will be always a human if you want.' He added that 'cost unfortunately seems to have been a too predominant evaluation factor' leading to 'lower quality.'

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