Klarna plans to halve workforce with AI, Meta developing headset to challenge Apple Vision Pro

Klarna is leveraging AI to halve its workforce

Payment platform Klarna has unveiled plans to cut its staff footprint by over half as the Swedish firm bets big on AI.

The Stockholm-based ‘buy now, pay later’ firm said it will use an attrition downsizing policy, which means departing staff will no longer be replaced with new hires.

Instead, Klarna plans to leverage artificial intelligence and automation to replace departing roles in various departments. It has already reduced its headcount from 5,000 to 3,800 in the past year.

Chief executive Sebastian Siemiatkowski heralded the benefits of AI as Klarna revealed its second-quarter results earlier this week.

“Not only can we do more with less, but we can do much more with less. Internally, we speak directionally about 2,000 [employees]. We don’t want to put a specific deadline on that,” he told the Financial Times.

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Will Meta’s Puffin be a new competitor to Apple Vision Pro?

Meta has started developing a new mixed-reality headset that is intended to compete directly with the Apple Vision Pro.

According to The Information, the Meta headset, codenamed Puffin, will resemble a pair of glasses more than a traditional VR headset.

The Facebook parent — which already sells headsets following its 2014 acquisition of Oculus — is developing a mixed-reality device that will weigh less than 110g, significantly lighter than the Meta Quest 3’s 515g.

It will achieve this by using a tethered “puck” containing the Puffin’s batter and processor, leaving just the display in the headset, the report claims, although it is unlikely to launch until 2027 at the earliest.

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Why Uber was fined $324 million for GDPR violations

According to the Dutch data protection regulator, Uber has been fined $324 million for violating EU data protection rules.

The Dutch DPA accused the ride-hailing firm of transferring the personal data of its European drivers to US servers, calling it a “serious violation” of the EU’s General Data Protection Rule (GDPR).

Uber said it would appeal the fine, which it claimed was “completely unjustified” as the transfer was “compliant with GDPR during a period of immense uncertainty between the US and EU.”

The watchdog claims Uber transferred information, including ID documents, taxi licences and location data, to its US headquarters over a two-year period but failed to safeguard it.

It launched the investigation after more than 170 French drivers complained to a French human rights group, which issued a complaint to France’s data watchdog.

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Musk’s Grok chatbot tweaked to address election misinformation concerns

The social media platform X has changed its AI chatbot after five secretaries of state in the United States warned it was spreading election misinformation.

Top election officials from Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Washington sent a letter this month to Elon Musk complaining that the platform’s AI chatbot, Grok, produced false information about state ballot deadlines shortly after President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race.

The secretaries of state requested that the chatbot instead direct users who ask election-related questions to canivote.org, a voting information website run by the National Association of Secretaries of State.

Before listing responses to election-related questions, the chatbot now says, “For accurate and up-to-date information about the 2024 U.S. Elections, please visit vote.gov.”

The five state secretaries said in a shared statement that both websites are “trustworthy resources that can connect voters with their local election officials.”

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