1w ago

CEO Who Bragged About Replacing Human Workers With AI Realizes He Made a Terrible Mistake

Swedish buy-now-pay-later company Klarna, whose CEO once bragged about its automated customer service AI bots doing the work of "700 full-time agents," is now in deep trouble. The fintech outfit is facing net losses of $99 million for the first quarter of this year, CNBC reports, which is more than double compared to the same period last year.

The company had already paused its highly anticipated IPO in the US last month, which once valued it at over $15 billion. And it's all particularly noteworthy because of how CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski previously bragged that he hadn't hired anyone in a year, following a doubling down on AI tech.

10 comments

Don't worry, he'll still be paid handsomely.
- Just like the WeWork story, these tech bro types always win while their employees carry the bag.

I'd be really interested in reading the autopsy here. My guess is that all the AI agents are producing slop amplification loops that employees have to wade through and are basically adding to the workload.

What a cunt.
They should punt him as the first part of their damage control campaign.
- It's a "buy now pay later" company, which is basically a predatory sector of late stage capitalism. Of course he's a cunt.
  
  For sure.
  I do like to point out when they're grossly negligent at being evil, by criticizing anything they do that they think is smart, that actually shows incompetence in maximizing shareholder or company value.
  You're supposed to make more money for your company through your decision making, not less.
  Therefore, he should be punished from every direction.

The workers should demand double the previous salary
- That's the fun thing. They're trying to make them gig workers so that they can be paid less and get no benefits.

He spoke too soon.

The losses are due to customers not being able to pay the loans. It probably has nothing to do with AI.

10 comments