Klarna CEO doubts that other companies will replace Salesforce with AI

The founder and CEO of IPO-bound fintech Klarna took to X to once again explain why his company ditched Salesforce’s flagship CRM product about a year ago in favor of its own homegrown AI system. But this time, Sebastian Siemiatkowski emphasized that he doesn’t think others will — or should — follow his lead. “I don’t think it is the end of Salesforce; might be the opposite,” he wrote. The news that Klarna had developed its own in-house AI system based on OpenAI’s ChatGPT that allowed it to drop its contract for Salesforce CRM went viral in September. This came after Siemiatkowski spoke about it during an investor day, explaining that the project led to replacing 700 full-time contract employees and a savings of approximately $40 million annually. Salesforce founder and CEO Marc Benioff then expressed skepticism about how, exactly, Klarna is managing its customer data and meeting its compliance needs. “Suddenly, @Benioff was asked on stage why Klarna was leaving Salesforce. I was tr ... Read full article.