What happened
Klarna said customers could still choose a human agent. In May 2025 CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski said cost cutting had reduced quality, that cost had become too dominant a factor, and that Klarna would hire human support agents again through a remote gig-style model. Its filing reports approximately 4,352 full-time employees at end-2023, 3,422 at end-2024, and 2,831 at end-2025. The filing says the reduction resulted from a strategic decision to reduce headcount and drive efficiency by using AI. These are company-wide totals, not a count of AI layoffs.
Attribution and company response
Revenue held, staff cut. The published revenue comparison held or grew — $3.51bn in 2025, up 24.8%. This clears the tracker’s revenue screen; it does not prove AI substitution, completed departures or the absence of financial pressure.
What the figures show
WHO BENEFITS?
Revenue grew, but the record does not yet show whether workers shared in the gains.
- Business performance
- $3.51bn in 2025, up 24.8%
- Worker pay
- Comparable employee pay not yet verified
- Workforce impact
- 700 full-time agents' workload equivalent2025 · Scope of the reported event, not net job losses.
- Where the money went
- No comparable allocation verified
Sources & limits
Revenue is not profit. These figures may cover different periods and do not isolate the effects of AI. Median pay includes more than salary and can change with workforce composition; it does not track raises for the same employees.
How many people were rehired — the pilot reportedly began with two agents. The filing does not isolate how many of the company-wide staff reductions were caused by AI, and the assistant's 700-agent workload equivalent is not a layoff count. This was a support-hiring pivot, not an established mass rehire of former staff; Klarna rejects the idea that it represents a retreat from AI. Business Insider later clarified that the “went too far” remark concerned cost-cutting broadly, not AI alone.
Workforce and outcome context
Klarna reported 2,831 employees in 2025. It also said AI handled 80% of customer-service chats without a drop in satisfaction. That company-reported result does not independently resolve earlier quality concerns or establish mass rehiring.
Sources and dates
- Annual report · Klarna 20-F · 2025.
- Workforce context checked 20 September 2026. Source ↗
- Financial record: Source ↗