Klarna Resumes Hiring Humans After AI Customer Service Fails

Klarna, a Swedish company, initially aimed to replace 700 customer service agents with an AI chatbot. In February 2024, they announced the AI's efficiency. However, Klarna's CEO, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, admitted the AI strategy led to lower quality service, prompting a reversal. Siemiatkowski stated that cost-cutting was a primary factor in the AI strategy's development. He announced a renewed investment in human support. Klarna will now hire remote agents to ensure customers can always reach a human representative if desired. "From a brand perspective, and from the company's perspective, I think it's absolutely critical that the customer is very clear that if they want to, there will always be a human there," Siemiatkowski told Bloomberg.