At Klarna, AI is helping reduce payroll in a big way [Video]

Analyst pans the move, saying, “there is a lot of backlash against companies making cuts like this.”

Credit: Shutterstock/Elnur

A published report Wednesday indicated that Swedish fintech company Klarna is “seeking to get rid of almost half of its employees in the coming years through efficiencies it says arise out of its investment in AI.”

The article noted that the company has already reduced its head count from 5,000 to 3,800, and wants to reduce its workforce to 2,000 by using AI in marketing and customer service. Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO and co-founder of the company, which provides payment processing services for the e-commerce sector, told the BBC that “the job cuts would mean Klarna could pay its remaining workers more.”

Klarna’s plans should not come as a surprise, given the firm was the first fintech globally to launch a ChatGPT plug-in soon after the launch of the technology in November 2022. On its website, OpenAI …