Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski warns that AI will kill jobs and trigger a recession—right before talking to customers on an AI hotline.

Klarna’s CEO Thinks AI Might Wreck the Economy

Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO at Klarna
Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO at Klarna (LinkedIn)

If you’ve ever worried that artificial intelligence (AI) is coming for your job, congratulations—you’ve got something in common with Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski. In recent comments, Siemiatkowski didn’t mince words: AI is slashing jobs at such speed, it might just tip the global economy into a recession.

You might expect this kind of doom-laden forecast from a labor economist or tech ethicist. But this is coming from the CEO of a company that’s embraced AI so enthusiastically it replaced 700 customer service agents with AI-powered bots this February. Only to hire them back. At least some of them.

Mistakes aside, it seems Siemiatkowski sees the use of AI as a tidal change, sweeping across industries, apart from various positions that require manual skills, ““if you look at the factory workers today, lorry drivers, waiters, chefs, salaries are going up at a pretty good rate,” he said.

A Productivity Dream? Perhaps Not

Let’s not pretend that AI couldn't potentially deliver results. Klarna claims its assistant handled two-thirds of its customer chats in just its first month. Siemiatkowski says that translated into massive cost savings and better customer satisfaction.

But this uptick in productivity comes with a darker shadow: mass layoffs. Siemiatkowski highlighted how quickly AI made its mark at Klarna, pointing to its role in boosting efficiency—and noted that other CEOs are seeing the same trend unfold in their own companies.

The sting in the tale? Klarna wasn't happy with the results of total AI domination when it came to customer and had to scrabble to re-hire.

The pivot has been fast, “We think offering human customer service is always going to be a VIP thing,” he told TechCrunch, while comparing AI service to bespoke clothes. “So we think that two things can be done at the same time. We can use AI to automatically take away boring jobs, things that are manual work, but we are also going to promise our customers to have a human connection.”

Siemiatkowski: Governments Need to Wake Up

While many tech CEOs are hyping up AI’s benefits, Siemiatkowski is urging governments to brace for the fallout. His message? If we don’t act fast, rising unemployment could tank the global economy.

He urged businesses, governments and broader society to wake up and prepare for AI‑driven job disruption, warning its impact on white‑collar work “usually leads to at least a recession in the short term.” He went on to say, "I want to be honest, I want to be fair, and I want to tell what I see so that society can start taking preparations."

It’s a pretty stark contrast from most corporate messaging, which tends to focus on “AI empowerment” and “enhancing human potential.” Klarna’s boss is saying: forget the buzzwords—this could break the economy.

From Warning Bell to AI Call Center

Now, here’s where things get darkly humorous.

After warning the world that AI is about to upend jobs and potentially collapse economies, and after reversing course on AI customer service, Siemiatkowski went and made himself the star of... wait for it... Klarna’s AI-powered customer service hotline.

The hotline allows customers to call Klarna and get a response from the CEO—sort of. When you ring up, you’re greeted by a synthesized version of Siemiatkowski’s voice, which can answer questions, resolve issues, and, we hope, crack a few jokes. It’s his voice, powered by AI, handling your mundane customer queries—because nothing says “human-centered leadership” like turning your CEO into a chatbot.

Klarna claims that these chats could ““translate into tangible product improvements already the following day.”

It’s a neat PR move. It’s also peak irony.

The AI Paradox: Innovate or Disintegrate?

Klarna’s whole business model hinges on fast, efficient digital transactions—so embracing AI makes strategic sense. But Siemiatkowski’s warnings reveal a deeper paradox haunting every tech-forward company: if you innovate too fast, you risk contributing to the very economic instability you’re trying to avoid.

Can companies both adopt AI and avoid contributing to systemic unemployment? Is it possible to champion innovation without gutting the workforce? Siemiatkowski seems to be asking those questions himself—between AI-powered customer calls, of course.

Klarna’s CEO Is Right—And Wrong

So is Sebastian Siemiatkowski the tech CEO we deserve—or the one we need? On one hand, he’s voicing concerns most of his peers are too busy pitching investor decks to address. On the other, he’s diving headfirst into the same automation trend he’s warning us about.

In the race to dominate the future of fintech, Klarna is running full throttle. But if its own CEO is right, the cost of that speed could be massive—and felt far beyond the walls of any call center.

Source: Finance Magnates