Klarna's CEO says cost-first AI support led to "lower quality." Now it's recruiting people again.

Previously

In December 2024, Klarna's CEO said AI had let the company stop hiring, taking headcount from about 4,500 to about 3,500. Klarna's press office said it was still backfilling essential roles. Its AI assistant had handled two-thirds of customer service chats in its first month, Klarna said (Part 1).

May 2025 — Klarna says it will put more real people back into customer service, after its CEO conceded that cost had driven too many decisions. Here's what changed since Part 1 (December 2024), what it cost, and what went wrong.

Cost and outcome (as of May 2025)

AI share of inquiries: still about two-thirds, Klarna says. (CX Dive)
Response times: improved 82%; repeat issues down 25%, per Klarna. (CX Dive)
New human agents: two freelance agents live in a pilot, the CEO said. (Fortune)
Pay: starting at 400 Swedish krona ($41.17); Fortune didn't give the time unit. (Fortune)
Hiring policy: still not replacing leavers, except freelance customer service agents. (Fortune)
Cost of the change: Not disclosed.

What the CEO said

Siemiatkowski told Bloomberg: "As cost unfortunately seems to have been a too predominant evaluation factor when organizing this, what you end up having is lower quality." He added: "Really investing in the quality of the human support is the way of the future for us."

He also said: "I just think it's so critical that you are clear to your customer that there will be always a human if you want."

Bloomberg reported that Klarna aims, over time, to replace the few thousand human agents it uses through outsourcing firms with its own pool. Outsourcing here means paying a contact-center company to supply and manage agents.

The new model

Klarna is piloting what the CEO called an "Uber type of setup." Fortune reported that agents choose their own schedules and can work from anywhere in Sweden, with pay starting at 400 Swedish krona ($41.17). Two new agents were live. Siemiatkowski said some could be Klarna customers: "We also know there are tons of Klarna users that are very passionate about our company and would enjoy working for us."

What Klarna says it isn't doing

Klarna pushed back on the idea of a U-turn. A spokesperson told Fortune the company was keeping its policy of not replacing employees who leave, apart from freelance customer service agents for its outsourcing division: "we're very much still AI-first."

Spokesperson Clare Nordstrom told CX Dive: "AI gives us speed. Talent gives us empathy." Klarna said the AI assistant still handled about two-thirds of inquiries, with response times improved 82% and repeat issues down 25%.

What outsiders said

Tech writer Gergely Orosz had tested the bot the year before and called it "underwhelming," Fortune reported. "It recites exact docs and passes me on to human support fast," he wrote, while praising its lack of hallucinations. Hallucinations are confident but false answers from an AI model. "It acts basically as a filter to get to customer support," he said.

Fortune set Klarna's shift against a recent IBM survey of 2,000 CEOs. Just one in four AI projects delivered the return on investment promised, and 16% had been scaled across the business.

What's changed

The AI still does most of the volume, by Klarna's count. What changed is the pitch. In December the CEO said AI could do all human jobs. Now he says cost-first support hurt quality and promises a human whenever a customer wants one. The new agents are freelancers, not staff, so headcount can keep falling. Bloomberg reported the CEO expects attrition to take the workforce to about 2,500, from about 3,000, within a year.

What went wrong

Quality, by the CEO's own account. Cost was "a too predominant evaluation factor," leading to "lower quality."
Mixed messages. The CEO talks of investing in humans. A spokesperson says the company is "very much still AI-first" and still not backfilling.
No quality data. Klarna hasn't published satisfaction or complaint figures for AI versus human support.
What we don't know yet: how many freelance agents Klarna will add, what they cost against outsourced agents, and what "lower quality" meant in numbers.

Our follow-up question for Klarna

What quality measures dropped under the cost-first setup, and by how much, before Klarna decided to add human agents back?

Sources

Charles Daly, Bloomberg, “Klarna Slows AI-Driven Job Cuts With Call for Real People,” May 8, 2025 (headline updated after publication; originally "Klarna Rethinks AI Cost-Cutting Plan With Call for Real People"). bloomberg.com
Irina Ivanova, Fortune, “As Klarna flips from AI-first to hiring people again, a new landmark survey reveals most AI projects fail to deliver,” May 9, 2025. fortune.com
Kristen Doerer, CX Dive, “Klarna changes its AI tune and again recruits humans for customer service,” May 9, 2025. customerexperiencedive.com
Earlier in this series: Part 1. /case/klarna-ai-customer-service-hiring-freeze

Disclosure: [not in copy] Editor placeholder