Klarna—Klarna reversed AI-only customer service approach after quality and satisfaction declined
In May 2025, Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski admitted the company 'went too far' with AI-driven customer service, acknowledging that cost had been 'a too predominant evaluation factor' and that quality and trust had eroded. Klarna began rehiring human agents and adopted a 'dual-track approach' combining AI with human support, though the chatbot still handles two-thirds of inquiries.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Responsible Automation | +toward | primary | +1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | +0.429 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (medium ×1) × confidence (0.57)× agency (reactive ×0.75)
Evidence (1 signal)
Klarna CEO admitted 'we went too far' with AI-only customer service, began rehiring humans
Bloomberg reported that Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski acknowledged the company 'went too far' replacing human customer service with AI, saying cost had been 'a too predominant evaluation factor.' The company began rehiring human agents.