A Swedish financial services firm specialising in direct payments, pay-after-delivery options, and instalment plans is preparing to reduce its workforce by nearly 50 per cent as artificial intelligence automation becomes more prevalent.

Klarna, a buy-now, pay-later company, has reduced its workforce by over 1,000 employees in the past year, partially attributed to the increased use of artificial intelligence.

The company plans to implement further job cuts, resulting in a reduction of nearly 2,000 positions. Klarna’s current employee count decreased from approximately 5,000 to 3,800 compared to last year.

A company spokesperson stated that the number of employees is expected to decrease to approximately 2,000 in the coming years, although they did not provide a specific timeline. In Klarna’s interim financial report released on Tuesday, the company attributed the job cuts to its increasing reliance on artificial intelligence, enabling it to reduce its human workforce.

Klarna claims that its AI-powered chatbot can handle the workload previously managed by 700 full-time customer service agents. The company has reduced the average resolution time for customer service inquiries from 11 minutes to two while maintaining consistent customer satisfaction ratings compared to human agents.