What if AI became more expensive than the workers it replaced?

I write code with an AI assistant sitting right beside me most days, and it genuinely makes me faster. THres No argument there. But something has been flying around in my head all year: what if the core promise everyone built their AI strategy on, “replace the human, save the money,” turns out to be way shakier than the pitch decks suggest?

And the truth is, AI is not bad. It’s just messier than advertised.

So, let’s look into it together…

Let’s reflect on the Klarna story everybody keeps retelling…

You've probably heard some version of this. Back in 2024, Klarna announced that its AI agent was doing the work of 700 human customer service reps. Hiring froze. The support team shrank. It became the go-to example in every AI-hype newsletter, mine included, for how AI had already eaten a whole job category.