Klarna is closing in on a major milestone—$1 million in revenue per employee—as the buy now, pay later (BNPL) firm doubles down on AI adoption. Since 2022, Klarna has reduced its overall workforce by around 40% while increasing the share of tech employees from 36% to 52% by Q1 2025. The company reports that 96% of its staff now use AI tools daily, a shift that has powered a 152% increase in revenue per employee since the first quarter of 2023.
The company says AI has significantly reduced costs across the business, especially in customer service, where per-transaction costs have fallen by 40% over the past year without hurting customer satisfaction. CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski emphasized Klarna’s momentum in its latest financial update, stating the firm’s AI-first approach is accelerating growth, scaling its merchant network, and driving innovation in personal finance.
A year ago, Siemiatkowski revealed that Klarna’s AI assistant was performing the equivalent work of 700 employees and was part of a larger plan to downsize its workforce from 5,000 to 2,000. But he has since acknowledged the potential downsides. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, he admitted the strategy may have overly prioritized cost-cutting at the expense of service quality.
To rebalance, Klarna is now testing a new customer service model using remote staffers in an “Uber-style” setup, ensuring customers will always have access to human support if desired. “From a brand perspective, it’s critical to be clear that there will always be a human available,” said Siemiatkowski, hinting at a hybrid future that merges AI efficiency with human empathy.