We went too far. [...] We focused too much on cost. The result was lower quality. [...] From a brand perspective, from a company perspective, I just think it's so critical that you are clear to your customer that there will always be a human if you want.
Curated from bloomberg.com · 8 May 2025 →
In February 2024 Klarna said its OpenAI-powered assistant was doing the work of 700 full-time agents, handling 2.3 million conversations in a month and cutting resolution time from eleven minutes to under two. It was the most cited proof point of the year that support could be automated outright, and Klarna's headcount fell by roughly half over the period. In May 2025 its chief executive told Bloomberg the company had gone too far and began recruiting people again, on a remote, flexible model. What Klarna did not do is switch the assistant off: the high-volume tier stays automated and people come back for the complex and the escalated. The number that changed was not deflection rate, it was quality, and it took a year to show.
