The tech world’s latest drama is unfolding faster than a viral TikTok trend, and Klarna is at the center of it all.

In a plot twist that screams “late-stage capitalism,” the Swedish fintech company that made “buy now, pay later” a Gen Z lifestyle is now playing musical chairs with its workforce – and AI is winning.

The AI Employment Experiment

Klarna’s CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski is basically conducting a real-time experiment on the future of work. After replacing 700 customer service roles with AI (saving a cool $40 million), the company is now testing a hybrid model that sounds suspiciously like a gig economy fever dream.

Gig Economy 2.0

Imagine an employment model where customer service reps can choose their own schedules and earn around $41 per hour – sounds too good to be true, right? Klarna’s new “Uber-style” approach aims to recruit students and rural workers, creating a flexible workforce that can “complement” their AI setup. Spoiler alert: the AI isn’t going anywhere.

The Silicon Valley Shuffle

This isn’t just a Klarna thing. Tech giants are increasingly seeing AI as their golden ticket to slashing operational costs. Dropbox already laid off 500 employees to double down on AI engineering. The message is crystal clear: adapt or become obsolete.

As Siemiatkowski cryptically stated, the goal is to ensure “there will always be a human if you want” – but let’s be real, that human might just be a highly flexible, algorithmically-managed gig worker. Welcome to the future, folks.