Communications of the ACM
Fintech Firm Freezes Hiring; CEO Says AI Can Do the Job Instead
Some CEOs are betting that AI tools will boost worker productivity and lead to reduced headcount.
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In a hiring freeze that CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski attributes to the rise of AI, Swedish fintech firm Klarna is no longer recruiting staff beyond its engineering department.
"There will be a shrinking of the company," Siemiatkowski told The Telegraph. "We're not currently hiring at all, apart from engineers." The productivity gains from using tools like ChatGPT mean the company now needs "fewer people to do the same thing," he says.
The CEO says he expects the size of the company to shrink over time. The news comes as employees are becoming increasingly worried about the impact that AI could have on their jobs.
Klarna isn't the first to make such moves. In May, the CEO of IBM told Bloomberg that the company was pausing hiring for roles that it believed could be replaced by AI in coming years. In April, Dropbox announced it was slicing its workforce by 16%, blaming AI for forcing a shift in strategies.
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