The company's net losses just doubled.Do No KlarnSwedish buy-now-pay-later company Klarna, whose CEO once bragged about its automated customer service AI bots doing the work of "700 full-time agents," is now in deep trouble.The fintech outfit is facing net losses of million for the first quarter of this year, CNBC reports, which is more than double compared to the same period last year.The company had already paused its highly anticipated IPO in the US last month, which once valued it at over billion.And it's all particularly noteworthy because of how CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski previously bragged that he hadn't hired anyone in a year, following a doubling down on AI tech.During an interview with Bloomberg earlier this month, however, Siemiatkowski struck a dramatically different tone, revealing that the gambit hadn't paid off. He admitted that "there will always be a human if you want" when it comes to customer service — a sign of the times, as investors are starting to ask some tough questions given widespread economic uncertainty.Cash FlowNonetheless, it wasn't a complete reversal. Siemiatkowski defended his embrace of AI last week, boasting that the tech allowed Klarna to shrink its workforce by 40 percent.During its Monday earnings call, an AI-generated avatar of Siemiatkowski took over for the executive, the Financial Times reports, showing that the company is far from giving up on the tech.But public support for the tech is unmistakably falling off. Translation company Duolingo has faced a torrent of pushback from social media users, particularly on TikTok, after its controversial CEO Luis von Ahn announced that AI will gradually replace all contractors.However, while it could be easy to see Klarna as the canary in the coal mine for the AI industry as a whole, its rapidly mounting losses involve other factors as well. As the FT points out, many of the company's American customers are failing to repay their buy-now-pay-later loans.Klarna's credit losses have risen 17 percent year-on-year to million, reflecting widespread economic uncertainty and falling consumer confidence as president Donald Trump's trade war takes its toll.In response, Klarna has said that it's "closely monitoring changes in the macroeconomic environment" and "remains well-positioned to adapt swiftly if required."Share This Article #ceo #who #bragged #about #replacing