Klarna Used an AI-generated CEO to Share Financials. Will More Companies Follow?

Recently, buy-now-pay-later company Klarna released a video of its CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski delivering an update on its financial results for the first three quarters of the year. The news was real—23% year-over-year revenue growth and new AI tools—but the likeness was fake. The video was created using AI.

Like many AI-generated human doppelgangers, Siemiatkowski’s dupe is a little awkward. His mannerisms are oddly timed and mouth movements robotic. But Klarna, the Stockholm, Sweden-based company which filed for IPO in November, is investing in artificial intelligence and launching AI-powered shopping assistants. With the video, the company hopes to underscore that investment.

For all the discussion about AI replacing jobs, there’s been less talk about AI taking the top leadership job at companies. In a 2023 survey of 800 C-suite executives, 47% said most or all of the CEO’s role could be replaced by AI. Exactly which parts of the job could be handled by AI isn’t yet clear. Perhaps earnings calls?

Some experts warn these kind of deepfake videos can backfire. People don’t totally trust AI, especially the ones that closely mimic people’s likenesses, and according to Edelman’s 2024 Trust Barometer, 48% of Americans say they’d feel more positively about AI if it evolved at a slower pace.

While consumers are unlikely to see, or care about, business updates like these, if companies start putting AI-generated executives in front of regular customers, “that could cause a breakdown in trust,” says Bhaskar Chakravorti, dean of global business at The Fletcher School at Tufts University. “People could walk away from that interaction feeling that the company doesn’t really care enough to directly communicate with [them].”

How people view this sort of use of AI may also vary based on what sort of business you run, says Vasant Dhar, a professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business, who hosts the podcast “Brave New World,” about how the “virtualization” of humans affects daily life. By Dhar’s estimation, a company like Klarna may be able to get away with announcing financial results with an AI-generated CEO, while a more institutional company like Bank of America couldn’t.

Generative AI is still just a toy to many, and institutions don’t want to be seen as playing around. “If [Klarna goes] public, the risks go up, and they’ll have to reassess whether they can pull stunts like this,” says Dhar. “But for now, I think it’s a pretty clever move.”

A representative for Klarna tells Inc. that the video wasn’t meant to replace anything the company might normally do when releasing earnings, only to supplement. For now, Klarna says it sees no reason to stop experimenting.