Human First Case File #01
Two companies adopted AI at the same time. One built capability. One had to reverse course.
Many leaders are asking the wrong question about AI.
They’re asking: “How much work can AI take over?”
At first glance, that question sounds reasonable. After all, AI can answer questions, automate tasks, and reduce workload.
Two well-known Swedish companies started in the same place.
Both introduced AI into their customer service.
Both used AI to handle routine work.
Both expected AI to improve the business.
But each made a very different decision about what should happen next.
As a result, they ended up in very different places.
Their stories reveal a lesson every leader should understand before deciding what role AI will play in the future of their organization.
What Klarna’s AI course correction reveals about human-first AI adoption
Klarna’s experience showed that AI adoption becomes risky when organizations focus only on reducing headcount instead of strengthening human capability.
In 2024, Klarna reported that its AI assistant could do the work of 700 customer service agents. It promised faster service, lower costs, and more availability for customers.
A year later, the company began expanding its human customer support team again.
What happened?
AI can absolutely help with routine customer questions. But customer questions are not always routine.
They often come with confusion, frustration, uncertainty, or unique circumstances that require the kind of judgment, context, and understanding that only another person can provide.
According to reporting at the time, Klarna’s AI chatbot approach was associated with declining service quality and customer dissatisfaction. CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski later acknowledged that an overemphasis on cost reduction had contributed to poorer service outcomes.
By 2025, Klarna had begun expanding its human customer support team.
The lesson is not that Klarna was wrong to use AI.
The lesson is that AI adoption becomes risky when leaders only focus on removing human capability instead of strengthening it.
How IKEA used AI to expand human capability
IKEA used its AI-powered chatbot, Billie, to handle routine customer questions while creating new, higher-value roles for thousands of employees.
Rather than viewing AI as a replacement for people, IKEA used it as an opportunity to expand what people could contribute to the business.
IKEA connected AI to reskilling, remote selling, and new forms of customer value.
Coverage of the rollout reported that thousands of call centre workers were trained as interior design advisors while Billie handled a significant portion of routine customer queries.
Instead of asking: “AI can do this. Do we still need people?”
IKEA asked: “If AI can do this, what higher-value work can our people do instead?”
The people closest to the work often understand customers, processes, and problems in ways that AI cannot.
That knowledge does not become irrelevant when AI enters the organization.
In many cases, it becomes more valuable.
Human-first AI adoption focuses on creating value, not just cutting costs
Successful AI adoption is not just cuts and cost savings. It is about helping people and technology create more value together.
Klarna and IKEA both saw the same shift: AI could absorb routine customer service work. But they answered the human question differently.
Klarna asked: How many people can AI replace?
IKEA asked: What new value can people create when AI changes our work?
That is the difference between simple automation and Human-first AI adoption.
Automation asks: What can we replace?
Human-first AI adoption asks: What can we redesign?
The biggest AI opportunity for SMBs is already inside your business
For most small and medium-sized businesses, the biggest AI opportunity is not the technology itself. It is the knowledge, judgment, and expertise your people already bring to the work.
Human-First AI Adoption focuses on capturing, scaling, and strengthening that value with AI.
Want to apply the Human First Adoption Lens to your own organization?
Many organizations can save time with AI.
The harder question is where AI will create lasting value without weakening the knowledge, trust, and expertise that make the business successful.
A complimentary AI Opportunity Audit helps answer that question.
Together, we’ll identify the highest-value opportunities for AI, where human judgment still matters, and how to get started confidently.
Book an AI Opportunity Audit and discover where AI can create the most value in your organization.
