Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski recently stated in an interview with Bloomberg TV that the company had effectively stopped hiring over the past year, attributing this decision to the efficiency brought by generative AI. However, while Klarna has reduced its workforce significantly, evidence suggests the company continues to hire for certain roles.
Siemiatkowski explained that Klarna’s workforce has decreased from 4,500 to 3,500 employees, primarily due to natural attrition. He noted, “We have a natural attrition rate of 20% annually, and by not hiring to replace those who leave, we’re simply shrinking.”
The CEO expressed strong confidence in AI’s ability to replace human labor, saying, “I believe AI can already do all the jobs humans do.” He added that the company plans to use the efficiency gains from AI to accelerate salary growth for its remaining employees. Siemiatkowski has made similar statements in the past, including claims that ChatGPT is performing the work of 700 employees and that AI has replaced Salesforce as Klarna’s CRM solution. Recently, he even used an AI-generated deepfake of himself to present the company’s financial results, highlighting AI's potential to automate tasks at all levels.
Despite Siemiatkowski’s comments, Klarna’s hiring activity suggests that AI has not entirely replaced human roles. The company’s careers page lists over 50 open positions worldwide, and LinkedIn posts from 2024 show that managers are actively recruiting for various teams, including policy, software engineering, and global partnerships.
Klarna’s global press lead, John Craske, clarified that the CEO’s comments were “directionally true” but simplified for the interview. Craske explained that Klarna’s hiring practices have shifted. From 2019 to 2022, the company was hiring between 1,000 and 1,500 people annually. Now, they are primarily backfilling essential roles, particularly in engineering, rather than expanding the workforce.
The use of AI at Klarna has enabled the company to operate with fewer employees, but its current workforce size is similar to that of 2021. This aligns with broader trends in the tech industry, where companies like Meta and Amazon have scaled back hiring or conducted layoffs following rapid expansions during the pandemic.
Klarna’s push to highlight AI’s role in its operations may also tie into its anticipated IPO. By showcasing aggressive adoption of generative AI, Siemiatkowski may be positioning the company as a forward-thinking leader in the tech industry.
However, as seen across the business world, AI adoption remains a gradual process for most companies, with human roles still essential in many areas.
While Klarna is leveraging AI to enhance efficiency and reduce hiring, the company’s continued recruitment for critical roles demonstrates that AI cannot fully replace human workers—at least not yet.
