Klarna's annual financial reports

Klarna Saves $10 Million Annually with AI, Swings to Quarterly Profit

May 30, 2024, 12:04 PM

Klarna, a buy-now-pay-later firm, has significantly reduced its marketing expenses by leveraging generative AI technologies. The company reported savings of $10 million annually by cutting agency costs by 25%. Klarna's CMO, David Sandström, highlighted that the use of AI tools such as Midjourney and DALL-E has saved $1.5 million on image production costs in the first quarter alone, reducing the image development timeline from six weeks to seven days. The adoption of AI has enabled Klarna to produce 1,000 in-house AI-generated images in just three months, covering creative concepts and quality. This shift has allowed the company to spend less on photographers, image banks, and marketing agencies. The financial benefits of this digital transformation, which includes a partnership with OpenAI, have also contributed to Klarna swinging into a quarterly profit. However, this move has also led to job destruction in the marketing sector.