Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski has clarified recent comments about the company’s approach to AI in customer service.
The comments stem from an interview with Bloomberg, in which he shared his realization that too heavy a focus on cost-cutting when implementing AI can drive “lower quality”.
Talking specifically about customer service, Siemiatkowski then stated: “Really investing in the quality of the human support is the way of the future for us.
From a brand perspective, a company perspective, I just think it’s so critical that you are clear to your customer that there will be always a human if you want.
The statements caused a stir, as many interpreted them as a departure from his earlier stated aim of becoming OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s “favorite guinea pig”.
Klarna had also previously boasted how its AI assistant did the work of 700 full-time contact center agents and how the company, as a whole, had let go of 40 percent of its staff due to AI investments.
However, Siemiatkowski affirmed that humans will always play a key role in customer service in a recent appearance on the Big Technology Podcast.
The CEO stated: “Historically, when machines replaced human workers, it led to a higher appreciation for human-crafted goods.”
For Siemiatkowski, this idea translates to customer service as well.
After all, people value human interaction and emotional connections. As a result, companies offering human-driven customer service may gain a competitive edge.
He argued that historically, customer service relied heavily on outsourced agents with “limited product knowledge and followed rigid templates.”
Now, Klarna aims to “prioritize skilled agents who truly understand and love our product.”
Overall, Siemiatkowski believes that two truths coexist: simplistic tasks will be handled by AI, and complex inquiries will benefit from skilled human interaction.
That’s hardly a ground-breaking take. Yet, it hints that Klarna’s big results with its customer service AI assistant, which became the talk of the CX town, are perhaps not as impressive as first thought.
Indeed, the business seems to have had limited contact-reduction measures in place before implementing the AI assistant, i.e., failure demand strategies and self-service mechanisms.
Siemiatkowski admitted this during his interview, stating: “Klarna was not necessarily the best company in the world when it came to IVRs and FAQs and so forth.”
Therefore, it’s no surprise that many brands have struggled to replicate Klarna’s success with a generative-AI-infused bot. They were likely much further ahead before ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) burst onto the scene.
Klarna’s Boosts Its Customer-Facing AI Assistant
Despite skewing too much in the direction of cost-cutting when first implementing AI, Siemiatkowski revealed advancements in Klarna’s AI strategy and results.
As noted, Klarna’s AI assistant handled the equivalent workload of 700 full-time employees in 2024.
Now, despite integrating human agents for more complex issues, AI supports 800 full-time employees’ worth of work.
Siemiatkowski reiterated: “The key distinction in customer satisfaction levels lies in the type of task. Basic tasks (e.g., checking payment status) are often handled more efficiently by AI than humans.”
“Complex problems still require human interaction, where satisfaction tends to be higher with a skilled agent,” he added.
Siemiatkowski hopes addressing these issues will put the headlines to bed – but for now, stay tuned for a possible backtrack in a couple of weeks.
