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Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski on Getting AI to Do the Work of 700 Customer Service Reps

Jul 23, 2024

Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO of Klarna, discusses how their AI-powered assistant revolutionized customer service, replacing 700 reps. He explores the impacts of AI on society and the arts, emphasizing an experimental AI mindset at Klarna.

51:35

Episode guests

Sebastian Siemiatkowski

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Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Klarna's AI-powered chatbots improved customer service satisfaction and efficiency.

Sebastian emphasizes AI's transformative impact on Klarna's internal operations and customer interactions.

Klarna's internal AI innovations, like Kiki, demonstrate a commitment to enhancing productivity and collaboration.

Deep dives

Klarna's Evolution into a Global Payment Behemoth

Klarna, a global payments and commerce giant, evolved from a 2010 startup with Sebastian in Stockholm to a prominent player in the AI realm. Through collaborations with OpenAI and utilizing ChatGPT, Klarna ventured into AI experimentation for customer workflows, becoming a pioneer in AI integration internally and externally.

Utilizing AI for Customer Service and Documentation Clarity

02:14

Exploring AI Projects Internally and Learning from the Process

04:22

GenerativeAI Performance on Images vs Text

01:56

Empathy in Progression

01:00

Intro

2min

Evolution of a Payment Solution into a Global Platform and Implementing Customer Support at Scale

2min

AI in Dispute Resolution and Customer Service

14min

Discussion on Electronic Identification and Job Impact of Technological Advances

3min

Impact of AI on Job Categories and Creative Tools in Marketing

9min

Leveraging Technology and AI in Collaboration at Klarna

21min

In February, Sebastian Siemiatkowski boldly announced that Klarna’s new OpenAI-powered assistant handled two thirds of the Swedish fintech’s customer service chats in its first month. Not only were customer satisfaction metrics better, but by replacing 700 full-time contractors the bottom line impact is projected to be $40M. Since then, every company we talk to wants to know, “How do we get the Klarna customer support thing?”

Co-founder and CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski tells us how the Klarna team shipped this new product in record time—and how embracing AI internally with an experimental mindset is transforming the company. He discusses how AI development is proliferating inside the company, from customer support to marketing to internal knowledge to customer-facing experiences.

Sebastian also reflects on the impacts of AI on employment, society, and the arts while encouraging lawmakers to be open minded about the benefits.

Hosted by: Sonya Huang and Pat Grady, Sequoia Capital

Mentioned in this episode:

DeepL: Language translation app that Sebastian says makes 10,000 translators in Brussels redundant

The Klarna brand: The offbeat optimism that the company is now augmenting with AI

Neo4j: The graph database management system that Klarna is using to build Kiki, their internal knowledge base

00:00 Introduction

01:57 Klarna’s business

03:00 Pitching OpenAI

08:51 How we built this

10:46 Will Klara ever completely replace its CS team with AI?

14:22 The benefits

17:25 If you had a policy magic wand…

21:12 What jobs will be most affected by AI?

23:58 How about marketing?

27:55 How creative are LLMs?

30:11 Klarna’s knowledge graph, Kiki

33:10 Reducing the number of enterprise systems

35:24 Build vs buy?

39:59 What’s next for Klarna with AI?

48:48 Lightning round

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Training Data

Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski on Getting AI to Do the Work of 700 Customer Service Reps

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

Klarna's Evolution into a Global Payment Behemoth

Klarna's Innovation and Impact Through AI Experimentation

AI Integration in Customer Support and Service Enhancement

Klarna's Innovation Journey and Strategic Insights on AI Adoption

AI's Future Role in Personalized Commerce and Evolving Consumer Experiences

Utilizing AI for Customer Service and Documentation Clarity

Exploring AI Projects Internally and Learning from the Process

GenerativeAI Performance on Images vs Text

Empathy in Progression

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts