Company Regrets Replacing All Those Pesky Human Workers With AI, Just Wants Its Humans Back

[tulipsandroses]

Company Regrets Replacing All Those Pesky Human Workers With AI, Just Wants Its Humans Back
"What you end up having is lower quality."

Two years after partnering with OpenAI to automate marketing and customer service jobs, financial tech startup Klarna says it's longing for human connection again.

Once gunning to be OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's "favorite guinea pig," Klarna is now plotting a big recruitment drive after its AI customer service agents couldn't quite hack it.
The buy-now-pay-later company had previously shredded its marketing contracts in 2023, followed by its customer service team in 2024, which it proudly began replacing with AI agents. Now, the company says it imagines an "Uber-type of setup" to fill their ranks, with gig workers logging in remotely to argue with customers from the comfort of their own homes.
"From a brand perspective, a company 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," admitted Sebastian Siemiatkowski, the Swedish fintech's CEO.
That's a pretty big shift from his comments in December of 2024, when he told Bloomberg he was "of the opinion that AI can already do all of the jobs that we, as humans, do." A year before that, Klarna had stopped hiring humans altogether, reducing its workforce by 22 percent.

A few months after freezing new hires, Klarna bragged that it saved $10 million on marketing costs by outsourcing tasks like translation, art production, and data analysis to generative AI. It likewise claimed that its automated customer service agents could do the work of "700 full-time agents." So why the sudden about-face? As it turns out, leaving your already-frustrated customers to deal with a slop-spinning algorithm isn't exactly best practice.
As Siemiatkowski told Bloomberg, "cost unfortunately seems to have been a too predominant evaluation factor when organizing this, what you end up having is lower quality."

https://futurism.com/klarna-openai-humans-ai-back

[highplainsdem]

1. Klarna is hyping its getting some human customer reps again, while still using AI elsewhere

and planning to continue cutting the workforce.

But they're getting a lot of free publicity with this story about customer service.

The Bloomberg article that was published first

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-08/klarna-turns-from-ai-to-real-person-customer-service

says Klarna's key goal this year is "to offer the first version of a digital financial assistant that Siemiatkowski hopes will eventually be able to negotiate on a customer’s behalf, for example securing the best interest rates and insurance premiums."

Which might backfire, too. See what I posted earlier today about AI and finance: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220313020

And I believe Klarna is still using AI slop instead of images created by humans for marketing.

Plus they're planning to hire customer service reps as gig workers, so probably low pay.

[pansypoo53219]

2. he should have watched the AI southpark. it was so stupid.

[angrychair]

3. They have, obviously, learned nothing

Now, the company says it imagines an "Uber-type of setup" to fill their ranks, with gig workers logging in remotely to argue with customers from the comfort of their own homes.

This sounds like a absolutely horrible company to work at.

[iemanja]

7. pigs

[Hieronymus Phact]

4. They want the human touch back

So they're contracting gig workers (with no benefits).
They should try being human first.

[3Hotdogs]

11. They done want humans.

They want drones.

[dchill]

5. Klarna is a misspelling. It's Karma, of course.

[multigraincracker]

6. AI might do a better job than the CEOs.

[modrepub]

13. It Would Most Definitely Be Cheaper

EOM

[multigraincracker]

16. Japan and India companies are more efficient and their CEO make way less than ours.

[Montauk6]

8. They fake it till they break it, I guess...

[Meowmee]

9. I was not sure what Klarna is exactly, some sort of financial consulting service?

Anyway I guess it is good some people will be hired instead of ai. What I don't understand is why their advisors are arguing with clients? 😹

"Now, the company says it imagines an "Uber-type of setup" to fill their ranks, with gig workers logging in remotely to argue with customers from the comfort of their own homes."

[Ruby the Liberal]

15. Klarna is payday lending on steroids

Its retail/point-of-sale financing.

No cash? Run your $12 TacoBell order through Klarna and pay over 4 months at usurious rates. And because it is revolving - as people use it, the interest compounds on the interest and it becomes a never ending cycle.

[chowder66]

10. A lesson in how not to inspire confidence in your business acumen.

Who thinks to say "...with gig workers logging in remotely to argue with customers from the comfort of their own homes."

[BidenRocks]

12. When I call to report an issue,

I want a human who feels what I'm saying.
AI is not satisfying.
Shout out to Scrub Daddy.
Live person and excellent response.

[Ruby the Liberal]

14. PSA: Drop an F-bomb during 'interactive menu responses'

Years ago, I worked in IT alongside our Telcom team, and in helping test - learned something that has always stuck with me.

These automated phone systems are typically set with key word triggers to determine if the customer is getting pissed to try to minimize frustrated people launching at the CS reps and causing a longer call time.

If you drop an F-bomb along with "representative" or "agent" (etc), many will stop the maze and connect you to a person. ("Get me a fucking representative" is my go to). If it insists on keeping you hostage, "cancel account" will typically get you to a person who can advise.

Noting, some numbers are designed as closed-loop (self-help) where this won't work.

[Wicked Blue]

17. Hiring independent gig workers means not paying benefits

Screw Klarna