Klarna’s CEO bragged about AI replacing workers is now sweating bullets because AI will replace his too
Marco van Hurne
AI & ML advisory | Author of The Machine Learning Book of Knowledge | Building AI skills & organizations | Data Science | Data Governance | AI Compliance Officer | AI Governance
Klarna is more than just an example of how AI can be used. Of course, not to augment people, but to abuse its potential by making people obsolete. You know Klarna - the buy now pay later scam which ruined a lot of parent’s lives. Yup them.
And they are now the blueprint for the AI-first business. I first described the AI-first or AI-native business about a year ago. Read: Anticipating AI's next move ? article ③ ? | LinkedIn
These aren’t companies that use AI - they are AI.
Everything revolves around algorithms In an AI-first business. Strategy, operations, sales, customer service, begins and ends with intelligent systems. Humans are no longer running the show.
They are barely even allowed backstage.
Klarna’s CEO (Sebastian Siemyadayada-too-complex) was one of the first CEOs to fully embrace this vision. He integrated OpenAI’s stack into every corner of the company. And when he was done, Klarna stopped hiring humans and started “hiring” machines. The result was a 22% reduction in total headcount (50% in IT).
In a rather lengthy tweet last Sunday, the guy wrote: “To me AI is capable of doing all our jobs, my own included".
And because of this ruthlessness the company has gained a valuation of?well over $14 billion.
He frames it as a financially successful thing to cash in on the hype around AI. In a press release he even stated that its “AI assistant could do the work of 700 full-time agents”. This, is a new paradigm of corporate efficiency, and for me a new definition of what it takes to be a modern day Scrooge.
I wonder what Charles Dickens would have written if he were to write “A Christmas Carol” in 2025.
Businesses like Klarna are redesigning the entire playbook. Take Waymo’s self-driving taxis. They operate with minimal human intervention, and the company is driven entirely by AI decisions. And Ocado’s robots manage groceries from warehouse to doorstep. These companies are using AI to create a revolution in the market.
A revolution in efficiency and cost, all in a bid to maximize profits.
All hail to the AI.
And of course, all at the expense of people, who trained the AI, and are now driven into destitution.
If you like this anti establishment schtuff and want to support me:
The AI-first company
AI-first companies think that every workflow can be automated. And why wouldn’t they? Humans are the exception in these environments, not the rule.
Klarna’s CEO even admitted that manual processes are only developed when the risks of using AI are too high. Translation: when the cost of damage control are larger than its benefits.
The message is clear…if you are not AI, you are a relic of the past. But cracks (no, not butt-cracks, I know you guys !) are beginning to show, even in this supposed utopia of efficiency. Because when the machines can do it all, the people left behind start to wonder if they are even needed at all.
And the answer is no.
Their job is safe for now.
That is until the AI has evolved further.
What I find most annoying about these businesses and the people behind this philosophy is their cold, and calculated design. They aren’t built to nurture employees or build a culture of “Kumbaya collaboration”.
They are built to deliver results.
Profits.
The human touch is a luxury for which you will have to pay extra, because luxuries don’t fit into the profit margins that these businesses are chasing.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, you will be seeing more and more personal AI-Assistants popping up who will act on your behalf as your machine customer. They are the perfect concierge. They will do all the shopping for you and will interact with these AI-first **companies. But there are no connections anymore with the companies behind the transactions.
No brand stories.
No creativity.
No connection. All gone, and exchanged for the cold lifeless handshake of the machine.
The human cost of AI "efficiency"
Klarna’s efficiency revolution comes with a huge price tag. A tag which is paid, of course, by its former employees. The company’s ChatGPT-powered assistant replaced jobs and it erased livelihoods. Hundreds of workers were cut loose. Their roles were made obsolete by algorithms that don’t need health insurance, nor vacations.
It’s the perfect business model, in the hands of an even colder anti-social CEO, who doesn’t mind a trail of human wreckage in its wake.
But even the survivors aren’t exactly thriving. Siemiatkowski (finally his real name) promised pay raises which he tied to AI-driven productivity. In other words, the more productive those AI were (trained by the workers themselves), the more bonus they would get. He was dangling a carrot in front of overworked employees who are probably constantly afraid of their job, and scrambling to justify their continued existence at the company.
It’s a brilliant strategy that would have fit perfectly in the feudal societies of past centuries: keep the humans desperate enough to outwork the machines and meanwhile making sure that they’ll never win. AI doesn’t burn out. And it certainly doesn’t ask for more money.
For the remaining employees, the writing is on the wall.
AI is not your colleague. It’s your competitor.
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The longer you stick around, the closer you edge toward your own (inevitable) obsolescence.
And I am not gonna sugarcoat it: AI will win.
It is cheaper, and utterly devoid of those inconvenient emotions that make humans so…human. As Klarna’s CEO already hinted, the days of human-led businesses are numbered.
Meanwhile, the human cost ripples outward. Communities lose incomes. Families lose stability. And society loses the sense of purpose that comes from meaningful work. Klarna’s story is an example of what happens when efficiency is prioritized over empathy.
Welcome to the future of unmanned businesses
I need to correct my earlier statement. The future isn’t AI-first. It’s AI-only. Klarna is working towards a future finance company where bots will handle everything. Sales calls are made by AI voice agents, who charm clients with algorithmically optimized pitches. Orders are fulfilled by agentic systems that don’t miss deadlines or make mistakes. Contract management is automated, invoicing is seamless, and financial operations run like clockwork.
And what about staffing ( Marc Drees )?? I guess, same story here. AI matches candidates with jobs based on data points no human could process. Contracts are signed, payments are processed, and issues are resolved. And all without a single human hand involved. You have a problem sir? Talk to the chatbot. Need a refund, ma’am? The bot will handle it. And all that is left for the humans is to cash the checks.
This is not speculation, people. This is inevitability.
Companies like Klarna are already paving the way. The question is not if this future will arrive. It’s when. when. And when it does, what will happen to the rest of us? Will we find new roles in this AI-dominated world, or will we be left somewhere on the sidelines, where we’ll be watching when the machines take over?
And for now, the customers do not care. As long as their needs are met, they will accept the transactional nature of AI-driven services. History taught us that efficiency wins every time, even if it comes at the cost of humanity. But what happens when every company operates this way? When no one needs people anymore? That’s a question we’ll all have to answer sooner than we’d like.
Skynet was all about war through Terminators.
This war will be waged without a shot being fired.
When CEOs fear their own creations
The story of Sebastian + lastname is a mix of hubris and a dash of irony. He was one of the first who championed AI as the ultimate workforce replacement. It helped him save millions and gained a lot of the productivity. But now, even he can’t ignore the possibility that his own job might be next. After all, if AI can replace 700 customer service reps, why not one CEO?
Think of it.
No job is safe.
And if you realize that the next Space we are heading towards is the Embodied AI space, where AI is integrated into robotics, you can bet your sweet little behind that anything is game. From CEO to Concierge.
Now take mister Bengio. He is also one of the "Godfathers of AI", and like Einstein and Leo Szilárd did in their letter to the US president Roosevelt, about the dangers of nuclear bombs, he issued a warning too.
He says that the real danger is not the tech you know. It is soulles. It doesn't have an opinion nor a goal. It is the people who are controlling it. And at a summit held somewhere in Montreal, he called out a small elite group. He said they want to replace humans with machines. These people have power. They have money. And they don’t seem to care about the rest of us.
Building AI costs billions. Only a few companies and countries can afford it. Bengio said this creates a big problem when power is concentrated in a few hands. It is bad for business. It is bad for democracy. It is bad for global peace.
Some say AGI - that is human-level AI - is decades away. But he isn’t so sure. If it happens in five years, we’re screwed. We don’t have rules in place. We don’t have systems to keep AI from hurting people. And if the wrong people are in charge? Good luck to us all.
He knows what he’s talking about. After all, he helped create AI. It’s hard not to take him seriously when he’s pulling the fire alarm.
Read, for more background noise:
The future isn’t about humans and machines working together
Humans and machines working together in concert? Nah. That is already off the table. Research has shown that humans need to focus on the thing that makes them humans, and the machines, well they do all the rest. An MIT study showed that it is best we all leave each other alone (read: MIT study: Think carefully before you start interbreeding humans with AI | LinkedIn). And if that isn't enough, do you recall the study about the physicians who were better off NOT using ChatGPT? (Google it yourself).
So, no more “AI is to augment people, so they can focus on more strategic tasks”. It is about machines taking over entirely. Because businesses that do not evolve into AI-first models will be left behind, pure on the basis of cost, and speed. And those that do will thrive, but at what cost? Jobs will vanish, replaced by algorithms that don’t make mistakes or demand paychecks.
For consumers, this might sound like a win. Faster service. Lower costs. Fewer headaches. But for society? It’s a slow-motion disaster. Communities will crumble as work disappears. People will lose their sense of purpose. And the rich, as always, will get richer while everyone else is left scrambling for scraps.
As someone who builds AI organizations, I have a personal mantra: I will not participate in AI projects that aim to fire people. Sure, I will be involved with efficencies, that's what it's all about. But rücksichtslos (German for reckless) cutting down people for profit is where I draw the line.
But you can do something about it as well. Because it starts and ends with you - my intelligent friends who also have to purchase stuff. Don’t wait for the world to change, because before you know it, society will have split into three even more distinct classes: the poor, profiled and processed like transactional cattle by AI, the middle and upper class, who are juggling two jobs just to afford the rare luxury of genuine human connection, and the filthy rich, who are floating far above the reach of any algorithm, and unbothered by the systems controlling the rest of us.
So, make your stand, set your boundaries, and do what you can to stop this race to replace humanity with cold, and unfeeling algorithms.
Signing off from the roller coaster ride called AI, where the algorithm doesn’t care if you scream.
Marco
Well, that’s a wrap for today. Tomorrow, I’ll have a fresh episode of TechTonic Shifts for you. If you enjoy my writing and want to support my work, feel free to buy me a coffee ??
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