In December, Klarnapaused all hiringa year prior as it focused...

In December, Klarnapaused all hiringa year prior as it focused on AI investments. The company's headcount dropped 22% in that time frame to 3,500 employees, mostly because of attrition, Siemiatkowski disclosed at the time. He asked Klarna's employeesto turn to AIto help fill in the gaps left by their departing colleagues.

In February 2024, the company claimed AI could do the work of700 customer service agentsand had taken on 75% of the company's customer chats, or about 2.3 million conversations, within a month of launch. The bot handled questions about topics like refunds, returns, and payments in more than 35 languages.

Siemiatkowski tells Bloomberg that the AI-focused strategy Klarna employed for the past few years wasn't the right path. He says that while AI customer service chatbots were cheaper to employ than human staff, they resulted in a "lower quality" output.

So now Klarna is recruiting a new batch of customer service employees, and the company will now focus on providing "quality" human support for customers, he said. In its recruitment drive, the company is targeting students, rural populations, and dedicated Klarna users who are passionate about the company. The roles are fully remote.

"Really, investing in the quality of human support is the way of the future for us," Siemiatkowski told Bloomberg.