According to Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski, artificial intelligence has reached a tipping point and the technology can now do all the work that humans currently do.
Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Klarna’s CEO, is focusing entirely on artificial intelligence (AI). “The technology is so well developed that it can do all the work we do as humans,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.
Almost no new employees
The company known for its “buy now, pay later services” has gone from 4,500 to 3,500 employees. That drop, according to Siemiatkowski, is due to a natural outflow, not layoffs. “Because we are no longer hiring new people, we naturally shrink naturally,” he explains.
There are still job openings on the website, but they are only to fill “essential roles.” The company is no longer actively recruiting. The remaining employees at Klarna can expect a significant salary increase, thanks to the company’s lower overall labor costs.
It is not surprising that Klarna is focusing so heavily on AI. Gartner named AI Agents as one of the big technology trends of 2025. These are AI bots that can independently perform repetitive tasks to take the burden off employees. According to a report by U.S. research firm McKinsey & Company, an estimated 12 million Americans will have to change professions due to the development of AI technology. In Belgium, AI is not yet at all widespread in the workplace.