While most people prefer to chat with real employees when solving a problem related to a company’s products or services, chatbots are now the first and often only port of call. They are also getting smarter thanks to modern AI, but that comes at a price as it means fewer human jobs in customer service.
Take, for example, the Swedish fintech Klarna. A message on the company website proudly announced that its OpenAI-powered Klarna AI assistant handled two-thirds of customer service chats in its first month. You need some context for that – Klarna says that’s 2.3 million conversations.
It also says the AI now does the equivalent work of 700 full-time agents and is “on par with human agents in terms of customer satisfaction score.” Klarna also adds that “it is more accurate at resolving messages, leading to a 25% drop in repeat queries,” although the drop can be partly attributed to people not wanting to interact with an AI chatbot.
Not connected in any way to staff reductions
Speed is also a positive factor. Klarna says customers are “solving their messages in less than 2 minutes, compared to 11 minutes previously”, and then there’s the end result. The move to AI has reportedly led to a $40 million profit improvement for Klarna by 2024.
“This AI breakthrough in customer interactions means superior experiences for our customers at better prices, more interesting challenges for our employees and better returns for our investors,” said Sebastian Siemiatkowski, co-founder and CEO of Klarna. “We are incredibly excited about this launch, but it also underlines the profound impact on society that AI will have. We would like to reemphasize and encourage society and politicians to consider this carefully and believe that thoughtful, informed and steadfast stewardship will be critical to navigating this transformation of our societies.”
That the “AI now does the equivalent work of 700 full-time agents” will raise some eyebrows, especially considering the company has laid off roughly the same number of employees in 2022 due to inflation and economic uncertainty.
Despite the similarities in numbers, according to Klarna there is no connection between the two. When Fast company When I asked the company about it, I was told: “This is in no way related to the May 2022 workforce reduction, and that conclusion would be incorrect. We have chosen to share the figure of 700 to indicate the longer-term consequences of AI technology, where we believe it is important to be transparent to create understanding in society. We believe it is important to proactively address these issues and encourage thoughtful discussion about how society can accommodate and navigate this transformation.”