{"id":4493,"date":"2025-12-17T14:51:41","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T14:51:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=4493"},"modified":"2025-12-17T14:51:41","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T14:51:41","slug":"klarna-ceo-says-he-feels-gloomy-because-ai-is-developing-so-quickly-itll-be-able-to-do-his-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=4493","title":{"rendered":"Klarna CEO says he feels ‘gloomy’ because AI is developing so quickly it’ll be able to do his job"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Among the top concerns as artificial intelligence becomes more advanced is whether the technology has the power to take over jobs. One CEO firmly believes AI not only has the power to do menial or repetitive tasks, but also has the intelligence and reasoning to take over his own job as chief executive of a multibillion-dollar company.<\/p>\n

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Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO of buy-now, pay-later platform Klarna, said AI\u2019s reasoning capabilities make that possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me AI is capable of doing all our jobs, my own included,\u201d Siemiatkowski said in a post on X earlier this year. \u201cBecause our work is simply reasoning combined with knowledge\/experience. And the most critical breakthrough, reasoning, is behind us.\u201d<\/p>\n

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I realize my statements on \u201cAI can already do all our jobs\u201d caused quite a stirr. <\/p>\n

So let me explain and expand what I mean. <\/p>\n

In my opinion the major breakthrough of AI is a computer with \u201creasoning\u201d capabilities. This has basically been achieved already.<\/p>\n

Not if you present AI\u2026\u2014 Sebastian Siemiatkowski (@klarnaseb) January 6, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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While Siemiatkowski said AI is capable of performing his duties as CEO, he\u2019s \u201cnot super excited\u201d about the prospect of his job becoming obsolete.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy work to me is a super important part of who I am, and realizing it might become unnecessary is gloomy,\u201d Siemiatkowski said in the X post. \u201cBut I also believe we need to be honest with what we think will happen. And I [would] rather learn and explore than pretend it does not exist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Klarna declined Fortune<\/em>\u2019s request for further comment.<\/p>\n

A 2023 survey by online education company edX affirms some CEOs believe AI could take over their jobs. Nearly half of CEOs who responded said they believe \u201cmost\u201d or \u201call\u201d of their job should be completely automated or replaced by AI.<\/p>\n

Siemiatkowski is so confident in AI\u2019s capabilities his company stopped hiring more than a year ago. Now AI is doing the work of hundreds of staff across the company. The Stockholm-based company\u2019s headcount fell 22% to 3,500 during the past year, mostly because of attrition, Siemiatkowski told Bloomberg <\/em>last December. The BNPL company as of earlier this year had about 200 people using AI to do their core work, he told Bloomberg. <\/em>Klarna is currently valued around $14 billion.<\/p>\n

Siemiatkowski said, however, some Klarna employees are \u201crallying\u201d to deploy as much AI as they can\u2014mostly to make some extra money in their paychecks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to give some of the improvements that the efficiency that AI provides by increasing the pace at which the salaries of our employees increase,\u201d Siemiatkowski told Bloomberg.<\/p>\n

Can AI really take over C-suite positions?<\/h2>\n

Siemiatkowski says AI\u2019s vast knowledge base, combined with reasoning capabilities, means the technology can make decisions for a company.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Honu, a tech firm building a decision infrastructure on which AI agents\u00a0run, argues the same. Imad Riachi, founder and CEO of Honu, told Fortune<\/em> AI is becoming so sophisticated so quickly its complex reasoning is on pace to become faster than the human brain. This means AI will soon be able to evaluate corporate performance, analyze millions of real-world scenarios, determine business direction, and execute strategy in a fraction of the time it takes for humans to do the same, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a time of awakening for CEOs, their board, and top-level management for existing businesses and future corporate founders,\u201d said Riachi, a former Meta and Goldman Sachs executive. \u201cThe unprecedented scope of AI\u2019s decision-making powers demands executives to hold a deeper understanding of its capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other AI leaders aren\u2019t as concerned quite yet about the technology\u2019s capabilities to take over executive-level jobs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea of AI performing every human job, including that of a CEO, still remains more speculative than realistic at this point,\u201d said Akash Nigam, CEO of AI avatar company Genies, which received $250 million in funding from Disney CEO Bob Iger.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While AI has made \u201cincredible strides\u201d in analyzing data, competing work tasks, and creating content, the \u201cCEO\u2019s role requires not just strategic thinking but probably more importantly,\u00a0emotional intelligence, adaptability, and nuanced leadership\u2014qualities that AI cannot fully replicate yet<\/em>,\u201d Nigam told Fortune<\/em>.<\/p>\n

A version of this story was published on Fortune.com on January 6, 2025.<\/em><\/p>\n

More on AI taking over jobs: <\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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