Klarna has introduced an AI-powered hotline that connects customers to an AI avatar of its chief executive and founder, Sebastian Siemiatkowski.

The Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) firm stated that the feature will allow its approximately 100 million global customers to share product feedback through a conversation with the avatar, which is trained on Siemiatkowski’s real voice, insights, and experiences.

The hotline employs AI software to interact conversationally with users, identifying key insights and recommending actions in real time. Klarna explained that both consumers and merchants can use the service to discuss product features, report issues, and suggest improvements.

The avatar can also answer questions about Klarna’s vision, mission, founding story, and journey, drawing from the real Siemiatkowski’s knowledge.

Every conversation generates an instant transcript and summary, which Klarna said is automatically analysed by a large language model (LLM). The insights populate an internal live feed and innovation dashboard.

Klarna’s product and engineering teams then review these actionable insights, assigning priority tasks. The company claimed that depending on the issue, customer suggestions could lead to tangible product improvements as soon as the following day.

Klarna argued that this approach differs from traditional banks, which rely on standardised surveys, fixed questionnaires, and open-ended questions. These methods often provide little engagement or incentive for consumers, resulting in low response rates and limited actionable insights.

The company added that traditional feedback processes can take months before being assessed, let alone implemented, leaving customers feeling disconnected and slowing innovation.

The service will initially launch in the US and Sweden, with plans to expand to other markets later this year.

“For decades, customer feedback has been a dull, tedious exercise involving forms, arbitrary rating scales, and surveys that no one reads,” Siemiatkowski said. “We’re changing that. Our new approach turns feedback into a natural, real-time conversation that’s engaging for customers and actionable for our teams."

“Now, customers can simply speak their minds, and their insights are delivered to the right people internally in real time, enabling swift resolutions.”

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