Ai Replaces 700 Employees.

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It Will Not Take Five to Ten Years.  Ai Is Replacing Workers Today

​by Greg Walters

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Looking for that Ai Use case? 

The lowest of hanging fruit in marketing.  Writing emails, generating documents and even creating logos and graphics. The next logical level is in customer support.

Well, it didn't take long, there is a POC, in the field, executed and performing at scale, in Sweden. 

​Check out these reported stats:

• ​The AI assistant has had 2.3 million conversations, two-thirds of Klarna’s customer service chats
• It is doing the equivalent work of 700 full-time agents
• It is on par with human agents in regard to customer satisfaction score
• It is more accurate in errand resolution, leading to a 25% drop in repeat inquiries
• Customers now resolve their errands in less than 2 mins compared to 11 mins previously
• It’s available in 23 markets, 24/7 and communicates in more than 35 languages
• It’s estimated to drive a $40 million USD in profit improvement in 2024​

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The Jest -

Klarna does not write code or create Ai solutions - the company was one of the originators of "Buy Now, Pay Later" platforms and claims a large number of merchants(500,000) as clients. They offer direct payments, pay after delivery options and instalment plans in an online purchase experience where consumers pay when and how they prefer.

They've worked directly with OpenAI to create a chatbot for front line customer service and report the new chat is doing the equivalent work of 700 full-time agents.  The scale is global, the use case is customer service.

This move did not specifically rid the company of 700 employees - BUT - and this is a huge but, back in 2022, Klarna laid off roughly 10% of the force - around 700 employees.  So the application is filling an existing void.

Impact -

This should be no surprise as the low hanging fruit in Ai use cases is customer service, and helpdesk functions and although the scale of this solution resides in the F1000 realm, it does apply to companies with a 70 person help desk...or how about a seven person MSP.  Or a copier dealership, with four service support technicians and one IT support person? Could your local HVAC or plumbing company use help resolving customer questions in "less than 2 minutes"?​

Vem är Klarna?

• Klarna was founded in 2005 in Stockholm, Sweden with the aim of making it easier for people to shop online. In the last 18 years, technology has evolved, excited and transformed the world around us, yet our mission remains as relevant as ever, to make paying as simple, safe and above all, smooth as possible.
• Klarna is the leading global payments and shopping service, providing smarter and more flexible shopping and purchase experiences to 150 million active consumers across more than 500,000 merchants in 45 countries. Klarna offers direct payments, pay after delivery options and instalment plans in a smooth one-click purchase experience that lets consumers pay when and how they prefer to.

Statistics

​Klarna is a part of The Klarna Group.

• Total active consumers: 150,000,000
• Total number of merchants: 500,000+
• Number of transactions per day: 2,000,000
• Number of employees: 5,000+

Sounds enticing, but wait just a minute -

Timing is everything. 

At times, discovering the truth means following the money. Klarna is rumored to be going with an IPO in 2024 and has posted consecutive losses for the past five quarters.  Additionally, there has been 'drama' between the company and Sequoia. Positive hype will only make the IPO valued higher.  If it weren't for OpenAI's public connection, there would be more reason to be dubious. ​
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​Regardless, assuming the statistics are true, real world applications abound.

Here are points the pique my interest -

• The company designed a solution for their specific need.
• The results are measurable and measured.
• Even though the scale is large, the solution scales down.
• The company is not in the business of writing Ai.
• The impact was felt 30 days after rollout.
• It has been slightly over a year since OpenAi burst on the stage.
• The Klarna project is projected to bring $40 to the bottom line, within 12 months post implementation.​

When was the last time one of your implementations stacked up like this?

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Sources:
https://www.fastcompany.com/91039401/klarna-ai-virtual-assistant-does-the-work-of-700-humans-after-layoffs
https://www.klarna.com/international/press/klarna-ai-assistant-handles-two-thirds-of-customer-service-chats-in-its-first-month/
​https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/savingandinvesting/openai-backed-swedish-bnpl-company-klarnas-ai-bot-cuts-repeat-queries-by-25-boosting-profits-by-40m-in-its-debut-month/ar-BB1j1SaF