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AI has become a major feature in many companies’ production, seen as a cheaper way to maintain high efficiency with limited staff. For some corporations, it has become a problem, with chatbots landing above human workers in the hierarchy. 

But for Klarna’s CMO David Sandström, artificial intelligence is not his competition; it’s his counterpart. Meet AI-Sandström, the chatbot replica of the CMO, who was created during budget cuts and is now a customer service representative at the company.

A boss at Klarna created a chatbot that looks like him to avoid his employees’ ‘whining.’

The idea sparked while Klarna, a tech company based in Stockholm, Sweden, was navigating budget cuts in 2024, resulting in many frustrated employees. Sandström explained that he would receive angry messages via Slack, and that it became difficult to address them all. 

He was particularly frustrated with the levels of “whining” from his employees and wanted to devote more of his time to the business’s growth rather than internal affairs.

The chatbot Sandström created was in response to complaints from employees after budget cuts at the company. He took the likable parts of any good leader and clumped them into one chatbot in order to create a supportive shoulder. 

AI-Sandström is programmed to be friendly, asking for forgiveness by taking the blame that would fall on the CMO himself. The complaints communicated to the chatbot are then compiled into feedback for the company. In a webinar conducted by ElevenLabs, the mogul described the chatbot as a “venting machine”. 

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The company has since introduced many other AI features into their production, even cutting back on human employees.

Due to the success of Sandström’s replica, Klarna went on to create a chatbot version of the company’s CEO, Sebastian Siemiatkowski. The model was trained on his podcast appearances and mannerisms. 

It doesn’t just stop there. Klarna also uses a Meta account to drive its business through AI-generated content. The feature allows artificial intelligence to create its own budget and use prior company data to capture customers’ attention.

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While this may sound like a great idea, the potential to cut back on labor for financial gain has led to catastrophic errors that reveal where AI still falls short. Templates with the intention to promote social media engagement have morphed into “incident-level crazy”, in the words of the CMO himself. 

And while the marketing team is keen on collaborating with AI functions to promote productivity, other departments have had less of a positive outcome. The company went heavy-handed on budget cuts, eliminating many of their customer service employees in order to replace them with chatbots. 

The company expressed regret for this choice, realizing that their tight funding was unnecessary, and that the mistakes of AI must be fixed by real, human employees. Employees were redeployed in an attempt to correct the company’s error.

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Sandström hopes to promote growth by introducing this model. 

Sandström’s goal in eliminating “whining” within his workday is to focus on greater endeavors rather than the nitty-gritty. “I just didn’t want to hear the whining in the meetings anymore. So I said, call this number, get it out of the system. When we then meet, we focus on the future,” Sandström explained.

His idea inspired many other leaders to introduce AI into their businesses. LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman created a “deepfake twin” that mirrored decades worth of content; AI Foundation created digital clones of the moguls Deepak Chopra and Richard Branson. 

This forward-facing attitude has made companies eager to incorporate “intellectual” levels of technology within their work, despite the setbacks it may have. It seems that tech companies are all in a race to keep up with what’s trending and innovative.

The chatbot provided Klarna with feedback that they hope will allow the company to strengthen internally.

Despite the uncertainty of other AI elements within the company, AI-Sandström proved to be a success, although for many it’s hard to imagine how. Sandström confessed that the chatbot was intended to be a PR stunt, but provided the company with a better understanding of their employees. 

PeopleImages | Shutterstock

The launch of both chatbots has certainly geared the company towards a more AI-driven approach, but the CMO clarified that there is no need for anyone to worry. 

If you’re a specialist, there’s still room for you at the table job-wise. Instead, he raised concerns about the “middle-aged generalist” who may feel threatened by AI counterparts. But maybe just maybe he should think about the fact that he created a bot that can basically do his job. Maybe being a CMO isn’t safe from AI-driven cuts either.

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Gabrielle Mattes is a writer working towards a Creative Writing degree. Her focus is lifestyle, wellness, human interest, and relationships.