Klarna Group Plc Chief Executive Officer Sebastian Siemiatkowski said his company was able to stop hiring a year ago as it invested in artificial intelligence that's doing the work of hundreds of staff across the firm.

The buy now, pay later finance provider has seen headcount fall 22% to 3,500 during that time, mostly due to attrition, Siemiatkowski said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in New York on Thursday. The company now has about 200 people using AI for their core work, he said.