Klarna’s CEO has warned that software engineers risk being left behind in the AI era — unless they’re also business-savvy.
Speaking at SXSW London, Sebastian Siemiatkowski said the talent “who have really accelerated their careers at Klarna” are “business people who have learned to code.” The reason? “They can take their business understanding and turn it into deterministic or probabilistic statements with AI.”
This shift, he warned, poses a threat to engineers. “A lot of them have allowed themselves to be isolated with technical challenges only, and not been that interested in what the business actually does,” he said.
His message to them was blunt: “Engineers really need to step up and make sure they understand the business.”
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Siemiatkowski’s comments add another layer to Klarna’s controversial AI transformation. In December 2023, he said advances in the field had led the buy-now-pay-later firm to freeze hiring for all roles — except engineers. A year later, he had an update: the company had stopped bringing on new staff entirely.
Open job listings, however, told a different story. Klarna also recently launched a new recruitment drive to ensure customers can always speak to a human.
The apparent contradiction has drawn criticism, but the company is doubling down on automation.
Last year, Klarna announced that its OpenAI-powered assistant was doing the work of 700 full-time customer service agents. It also used an AI-generated version of Siemiatkowski to present its financial update — suggesting even CEOs could be automated.
The 43-year-old recently claimed that AI can already do “all of the jobs” that humans can do. At SXSW London, he stressed the need to be upfront about the risks.
“I don’t want to be one of the tech CEOs that are like no worries everything will be fine, because I do think there will be major implications for white collar jobs and so I want to be honest about it,” he said.
Despite the gloom, Siemiatkowski still sees big opportunities for people who blend business acumen with technical skills.
“That category of people will become even more valuable going forward,” he said.
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