As more customers default on BNPL loans, Klarna’s CEO predicts AI will cause a recession

Klarna’s CEO has predicted that a recession could be around the corner as companies across the globe—including his own—reduce the headcount of well-paid, white collar jobs and replace them with AI. 

Sebastian Siemiatkowski, the boss of the Swedish Buy Now, Pay Later group is once again sounding a pessimistic tone on AI’s impact on the workforce. But as he embraces the potential positive effects of AI on his own bottom line, he may have to contest with the negative fallout of a company that has flirted with growing credit losses in the last year.

While he admitted that “making future statements about macroeconomics is like horoscopes,” Siemiatkowski’s well-documented feelings about AI’s impact on the labor market leave him making a pessimistic prediction about the economy.

“My suspicion… is that there will be an implication for white collar jobs. And when that happens, that usually leads to at least a recession in the short term. And I think, unfortunately, I don’t see how we could avoid that with what’s happening from a technology perspective,” Siemiatkowski said on the Times Tech Podcast.