Klarna CEO warns AI may cause a recession as the technology comes for white-collar jobs

[midian182]

What just happened? Another CEO has warned about the impact generative AI will have on white-collar jobs. Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO of buy now, pay later giant Klarna, said that the sheer volume of these workers being replaced will lead to a recession.

Siemiatkowski spoke about the impact of generative AI while appearing on The Times Tech podcast. "Many people in the tech industry, especially CEOs, tend to downplay the consequences of AI on jobs and white-collar jobs in particular. And I don't want to be one of them," he said.

The CEO added that this sort of impact on white-collar jobs "usually leads to at least a recession in the short term."

"Unfortunately, I don't see how we could avoid that, with what's happening from a technology perspective," he warned.

Siemiatkowski said that the fast-moving push to seemingly replace all humans with AIs isn't losing steam, and CEOs aren't thinking about the economic consequences.

"I feel like I have an email almost every day from some CEO of a tech or a large company that says we also see opportunities to become more efficient and we would like to compare notes. If I just take all of those emails and add up the amount of jobs in those emails, it's considerable."

Siemiatkowski said that there will be some jobs where humans will be protected. "The value of that human touch will increase," he said, adding that AI meant workers in client-facing roles will have to become more skilled. "They will provide a much higher quality type of service."

Few companies have embraced the AI revolution quite as much as Klarna. It began when Siemiatkowski reached out to OpenAI boss Sam Altman in 2023, telling him "I want Klarna to be your favorite guinea pig." The two firms have worked together ever since.

Siemiatkowski is also unafraid to be part of the problem he is warning about. He announced a freeze on hiring in December 2023 as Klarna looked to pursue AI alternatives to humans. He has also talked about cutting the company's workforce by almost half, from 3,800 to 2,000 – it had been around 5,000 in 2023 – thanks to AI, though Siemiatkowski framed this as "natural attrition." The CEO said those left will have to use AI to "do more with less."

Customer service chatbots have been one area that Klarna has been pursuing aggressively. In February 2024, Siemiatkowski said that AI chatbots were handling two-thirds of customer service conversations within the first month of their deployment and performing the equivalent work of 700 employees.

But in May, Siemiatkowski was likely doubting his previous statement that AI can perform "all of the jobs" that humans do after Klarna started hiring humans again. The reason? The AI chatbots that had replaced them were offering a "lower quality" output. He also noted that many customers want the option of speaking to a human if the need arises.

Siemiatkowski isn't the only CEO to sound the warning bell on AI job losses recently. Dario Amodei, CEO of AI firm Anthropic, last month said that AI could wipe out about half of all entry-level white-collar jobs in the next five years, leading to unemployment spikes up to 20%.

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Klarna CEO warns AI may cause a recession as the technology comes for white-collar jobs

 

[Kirby1]

No, AI will not cause a recession.

The government having no plan to deal with a rapidly evolving technology that will reshape the way we all work is what will cause a recession. Living in a word that values productivity above all else when suddenly AI is more productive than humans is what will cause a recession. Lack of foresight and a need to cling to things that worked 50 years ago before modern technology existed is what will cause a recession.

That, and voting for leaders who literally couldn't even keep a casino from going bankrupt is what will cause a recession.

 

[nnguy2]

When will AI replacing CEO's?

 

[NumberNine]

Chatbots are actually way better at big-picture thinking and business strategy than they are at executing menial tasks with any type of consistent reliability. The CEOs are right to be worried, actual skilled workers will be fine as they hop to competitors that produce higher quality results. Analysis is the sharpest of double edged swords.

 

[opckieran]

Optimists will spin AI as "transformative" or "enhancing to traditional work roles", but the cold hard truth is this: any job you can do at a keyboard, on a phone, or even any role which relies heavily on your eyes, ears, or nose even with simple mechanical exploitation is at risk of being automated out of existence. People seem to ignore the historic, inverse relationship between worker productivity and the need for workers. That need is finite. Just because more work CAN be done does not mean there will be more work TO DO.

At the end of the day, anybody gainfully employed two decades from now will have taken on a mechanical/artisanal trade-craft that can't be easily or cheaply automated by a machine.

 

[Hassanabi]

Optimists will spin AI as "transformative" or "enhancing to traditional work roles", but the cold hard truth is this: any job you can do at a keyboard, on a phone, or even any role which relies heavily on your eyes, ears, or nose even with simple mechanical exploitation is at risk of being automated out of existence. People seem to ignore the historic, inverse relationship between worker productivity and the need for workers. That need is finite. Just because more work CAN be done does not mean there will be more work TO DO.

At the end of the day, anybody gainfully employed two decades from now will have taken on a mechanical/artisanal trade-craft that can't be easily or cheaply automated by a machine.

The quicker AI and robots can take over our jobs the better. It will happen at some point, better for it to go quick and have adaptations in place quicker, than losing your job and having nothing to fall back on because only a single profession became defunct.

Let people find purpose in things they actually enjoy rather than working some menial job until their 70's 40+ hours a week.

 

[wiak]

AI as customer service representative is kinda a dumb shitshow

1. AI cant do ****
2.AI is still useless
3. see 1 and 2
4. a real human will workout a good compromise
5. if a AI will work out a plan its either going to wreck your profits or run you to the ground

we all know klarna customer service is a **** show, AI is useful but not in customer interaction jobs

I just say when I call customer support for any company "give me a human!"

 

[Hassanabi]

AI as customer service representative is kinda a dumb shitshow

1. AI cant do ****
2.AI is still useless
3. see 1 and 2
4. a real human will workout a good compromise
5. if a AI will work out a plan its either going to wreck your profits or run you to the ground

we all know klarna customer service is a **** show, AI is useful but not in customer interaction jobs

I just say when I call customer support for any company "give me a human!"

Customer support of the same companies that employ AI are often overworked, disinterested and lack any knowledge to do their jobs.

Which isn't strange considering you have people complain 24/7 about things you can't do anything about or have no say in, I know since I worked in IT support during the start of my IT career... and I started to hate callers and their stupid problems... and the colleagues and I had at least a modicum of knowledge about what they were talking about.

Try calling the average ISP for support and they'll recite dozens of steps cited in their caller script, they have no knowledge beyond that and become confused or refuse to believe you when you tell them you have done all that already.

AI isn't great for all purposes, but human customer support often isn't any better. At least AI can improve over time, I don't see those types of employees ever getting better, those that do don't remain employed there.