Klarna: 75 per cent of staff now use AI tools like ChatGPT as it looks at reducing hiring

Around three quarters of employees at Klarna regularly use tools like ChatGPT, its head of AI has told City A.M., as the buy-now pay-later (BNPL) giant leverages the technology to reduce hiring costs.

Senior engineering director Martin Elwin said the Swedish bank, which is the UK’s largest BNPL provider, had “something like 100-plus initiatives in development” as it pushes towards so-called superapp status and aims to get all of its more than 5,000 employees regularly using AI tools.

“Many other companies I’ve talked to have said they’re investing in this new AI department or something like that,” he added.

“We can’t figure out how to really transform our business into an AI-powered business and improve efficiencies across the board if we just drive this centrally. So we wanted to make sure that we put these tools and these new capabilities into the hands of everyone in the organisation.”

Klarna made headlines in February after saying its AI assistant, powered by San Francisco start-up OpenAI, was handling a workload equivalent to 700 full-time customer service agents and that it was on par with humans on satisfaction ratings.

The firm’s embrace of the technology comes as it looks to cut costs and return to annual profitability for the first time since 2018 after it began expanding aggressively.

While not currently planning layoffs, Klarna’s chief executive Sebastian Siemiatkowski said in December that the firm was no longer bringing on new employees other than engineers due to its progress on AI.

“It’s not about replacing people, but giving the people you have more, making them more efficient and giving them new skills,” Elwin told City A.M.

“And I think if we look ahead with these new capabilities, with these new tools, as we are expanding, we might not need to hire at the same rate as we did without them.”

Banks and other financial services firms across the world are moving quickly to expand their use of AI to boost productivity. Klarna expects its AI assistant alone to drive $40m in profit improvement this year.

Elwin added: “Even if you’re not necessarily an engineer there are values to get out of the services as well, and it might be something as simple as best practices for how to use ChatGPT Enterprise.

“Everyone not only can learn how to use these tools in the roles they sit in, but they can also contribute to identifying even more important use cases that we might want to invest more in.”

Klarna is gearing up for a blockbuster public listing, reportedly seeking a valuation of $20bn. It is expected to float in New York, but Siemiatkowski has yet to formally announce a location.