50% of workforce to lose their jobs to AI at Klarna

[Retro]

Here's a fine realworld example of people losing their jobs to AI. Allegedly, the remaining employees will earn more, but that remains to be seen and is cold comfort to those who lost theirs.

The buy now, pay later firm Klarna is seeking to get rid of almost half its employees in the coming years through efficiencies it says arise out of its investment in artificial intelligence (AI).

The firm has already cut its workforce from 5,000 to 3,800 in the past year, and wants to reduce that to 2,000 employees by using AI in marketing and customer service.

Boss Sebastian Siemiatkowski told the BBC the job cuts would mean Klarna could pay its remaining workers more.

Klarna: AI lets us cut thousands of jobs - but pay more

The firm wants to reduce staff levels to 2,000 works through its use of AI in marketing and customer service.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[AllThingsTech]

…and Klarna then took a U-turn and went back on a hiring spree for customer service jobs:

https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/klarnas-ai-replaced-700-workers-now-the-fintech-ceo-wants-humans-back-after-40b-fall-11747573937564.html

However, Klarna will continue maintain its digital financial AI assistant.

How awkward! I can’t see job candidates seeking unstable jobs!

Nothing can replace humans when it comes to customer service imo!

 

[AllThingsTech]

Klarna’s CEO spoke out about risks of losing jobs. That risk is very real:

Klarna boss: AI will lead to recession and mass job losses

Klarna boss Sebastian Siemiatkowski has warned that AI's potential to replace work done by office staff could push economies into recessions.

www.cityam.com

However there’s also a potential benefit - to delegate repetitive tasks to AI, with the expectation that humans hired into customer focussed roles should deliver a high quality of service.

 

[AllThingsTech]

A degree sadly no longer guarantees a skilled job

Highly educated professionals are now taking entry-level gigs abroad just to survive the global job market shocks

Qualifications matter less than language and geography

www.techradar.com

 

[Retro]

So, one slogs their guts out for a qualification and then has to work at a burger joint? That's awful and hardly worth the effort.

 

[AllThingsTech]

So, one slogs their guts out for a qualification and then has to work at a burger joint? That's awful and hardly worth the effort.

Well, I’m afraid that’s what the world is coming to with AI being increasingly used… until it starts sending insulting messages to customers like that garage did - will need to find a link to that! Don’t wanna post the content as it’s sexual in nature so those who’d like to can navigate to the link themselves.

 

[AllThingsTech]

Klarna’s CEO spoke out about risks of losing jobs. That risk is very real:

Klarna boss: AI will lead to recession and mass job losses

Klarna boss Sebastian Siemiatkowski has warned that AI's potential to replace work done by office staff could push economies into recessions.

www.cityam.com

However there’s also a potential benefit - to delegate repetitive tasks to AI, with the expectation that humans hired into customer focussed roles should deliver a high quality of service.

Well, to add to this, thankfully companies are reversing course with migrations from human customer service to AI chatbot assistance.

Half of companies planning to replace customer service with AI are reversing course

Within a couple of years, 50 percent of the organizations that had planned to replace their customer service personnel with AI models are expected to reverse their...

www.techspot.com

This couldn’t come soon enough! Glad views are changing with respect to the role in AI, with AI being seen as an asset in complementing humans as opposed to outright replacing them.