Klarna boss to cut thousands of jobs and replace them with AI [Video]

Klarna’s boss is cutting thousands of jobs and replacing workers with artificial intelligence (AI), writes Jessica Clark.

The buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) giant’s chief executive Sebastian Siemiatkowski revealed plans to almost halve staff numbers to slash costs and boost productivity.

The Swedish payments firm gears up to launch a highly anticipated public listing next year.

Siemiatkowski, who co-founded the company in 2005, is leaning towards New York for a potential flotation but has considered European rivals.

A year ago, there were around 5,000 Klarna employees but now there are just 3,800 – and that number could drop to 2,000, he said.

Klarna has been an early adopter of AI by using chatbots to handle customer queries – a move it says has sharply reduced the time taken to resolve issues.

The company added that its AI assistant can perform the work of 700 employees and has cut the average resolution time from 11 …