--- title: "CEO Says AI Will Replace So Many Jobs That It’ll Cause a Major Recession" description: "The CEO of layaway startup Klarna is claiming that AI is coming for your white-collar jobs — even though such a project didn't work for him." date: "2025-06-12" modified: "2025-06-12" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/klarna-ceo-ai-replacing-jobs" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai jobs" - "automation" - "klarna" - "labor" --- # CEO Says AI Will Replace So Many Jobs That It’ll Cause a Major Recession ![The CEO of layaway startup Klarna is claiming that AI is coming for your white-collar jobs — even though such a project didn't work for him.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* The CEO of layaway startup Klarna is claiming that AI is coming for your white-collar jobs — even though his own actions have made him an international poster boy for AI-obsessed executives itching to replace human workers with AI. Speaking to [*The Times Tech* podcast](), the Sweden-based CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski admitted that adoption of the technology will result in "implication\[s\] for white-collar jobs" that include, but are not limited to, "at least a recession in the short term." "Unfortunately, I don't see how we could avoid it, with what's happening from a technology perspective," the CEO said in reference to job loss and a recession. On that part, unfortunately, he may be right: we've been [careening headlong towards a recession]() for a while now, and [unemployment rates]() — affected, no doubt, by AI-obsessed CEOs like Siemiatkowski [laying people off in droves]() — are a huge factor. Still, those are bold words coming from this particular Swedish CEO, considering that just a few weeks ago, he [admitted to *Bloomberg*]() that he's looking to rehire for some of the 700 customer service positions he [boasted about replacing with AI]() in 2024. The reason? Because, as Siemiatkowski acknowledged, the AIs perform at a "lower quality" than human workers. (In a message after the publication of this story, a PR person at Klarna reached out to claim that "lower quality" was a "misquote.") Despite prematurely pulling the AI trigger in his own business, the "buy now, pay later" CEO insists the technology will get there. "I feel like I have an email almost every day from some CEO of a tech or a large company that says we also see opportunities to become more efficient and we would like to compare notes," he told *The Times Tech*. "If I just take all of those emails and add up the amount of jobs in those emails, it's considerable." Were *Futurism* to stake our beliefs by a similar metric, we, too would believe that AI replacing human labor is inevitable. In this writer's inbox alone, there are dozens of similar pitches from companies and so-called "experts" seeking to get our attention from this week alone — and hundreds more where that came from, should we be curious to look. With AI's present-day capabilities, those emails read as little more than junk mail — but it makes sense that a tech CEO who made his fortune on financial promises would see things a bit differently. Like other AI boosters, Siemieatkowski added that eventually, the "value of that human touch will increase" and that flesh-and-blood workers will "provide a much higher quality type of service" — after learning new skills, which may or may not become obsolete at some vague point in the future. Siemieatkowski is, perhaps more than anyone else, the platonic ideal of an [AI-boosting CEO]() — and unfortunately, there are lots of others who will take this kind of prognostication as gospel. **More on clueless CEOs:** [*Duolingo CEO Expresses Astonishment That People Were Mad When He Bragged About Replacing Workers With AI*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()