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Klarna, a leading fintech company, is making waves after its CEO, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, stated that artificial intelligence (AI) is now capable of performing nearly all tasks that were once handled by human employees. In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Siemiatkowski discussed the rapid advancement of AI and its growing role in the workforce, raising important questions about the future of employment. Siemiatkowski revealed that Klarna, known for its «buy now, pay later» services, has not hired any new staff in the past year, leading to a natural reduction in its workforce. The company, which once employed 4,500 people, now has 3,500 employees. This reduction, according to Siemiatkowski, was a result of a typical 20% annual attrition rate seen in tech firms, meaning that about 20% of employees leave every year. Rather than hiring replacements, Klarna chose to let the workforce shrink. “We have a natural attrition like every tech company. People stay for about five years, so 20 per cent leave every year. By not hiring, we are simply shrinking,” he explained. Despite the workforce reduction, Siemiatkowski assured that the current employees’ salaries would not be negatively impacted. He noted that as the company’s salary costs decrease due to fewer employees, the savings could lead to higher pay for those who remain.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. When he was in college in Sweden, Ali Ghodsi read an article about a chief executive who was hired to save a struggling tech company. It reminded him of the surgeries his parents, both doctors, performed while he was growing up.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. A good credit score is vital to securing a loan and negotiating a lower interest rate. Building a good score takes time and depends on several factors.

Tata Motors on Tuesday said it has won an order for 1,297 bus chassis from Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC). This marks the third order for the auto major from UPSRTC in a year, with a cumulative order size of over 3,500 units, Tata Motors said in a statement. The order was won through a competitive e-bidding process and the bus chassis will be delivered in a phased manner under mutually agreed terms, it added. The Tata LPO 1,618 diesel bus chassis is developed specifically for intercity and long-distance travel.

A U.S. Senate committee says at least two internal Amazon studies have found a relationship between worker speed and injuries in the online retailer's warehouses

Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur known for his leadership at Tesla, SpaceX, and X (formerly Twitter), has recently made headlines in an unexpected domain—gaming. While Musk is widely recognized for his technological innovations, his latest foray into competitive video gaming has sparked controversy. Musk, who has previously boasted about his gaming skills, particularly in titles like Diablo 4, faced an unusual setback when he was banned from the Path of Exile 2 server. After his success in Diablo 4, Musk turned his attention to Path of Exile 2, where he continued to showcase his gaming expertise. However, his gaming experience took a surprising turn when he shared a post on X, revealing that he had been kicked off the server for allegedly cheating. According to Musk’s post, the disconnection was due to performing “too many actions too fast,” leading to an automatic ban. Musk, however, was quick to deny any use of cheating software and explained that his actions were simply a result of his high-speed gameplay, attributing the incident to his ability to perform actions at a rapid pace. He humorously dismissed the idea of using macros or external tools to enhance his performance.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Chhagan Bhujbal on Monday expressed his disappointment at not being included in the new Mahayuti government and said he would decide his future course after talking to people from his constituency. Thirty-nine legislators from Mahayuti allies, the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP, were sworn in on Sunday in the first cabinet expansion of the Devendra Fadnavis-led government. Ten former ministers were dropped from the cabinet, and 16 new faces have been introduced. Former ministers Bhujbal and Dilip Walse Patil of NCP and Mungantiwar and Vijaykumar Gavit of BJP were some of the prominent leaders excluded from the new cabinet. Talking to reporters, Bhujbal said he was upset at not being included in the new cabinet.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Coforge Ltd stock has delivered mouth-watering returns to its investors in a matter of months. On Monday, the tier-2 IT services stock hit a new 52-week high of ₹9,354.

Aaradhya Disposal Industries, a manufacturer and exporter of high-quality paper products, announced filing of its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with NSE Emerge. The company’s initial public offering comprises a fresh issuance of 36,96,000 equity shares, each with a face value of Rs 10. Khambatta Securities is the sole book running lead manager to the Issue, and Bigshare Services Private is the registrar.

China has reported its economy logged a mixed performance in November, with retail sales slowing as consumers refrained from spending on non-essentials like cosmetics, alcohol and jewelry

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said the Mahayuti allies have agreed to conduct a «performance audit» of ministers during their tenure. While Fadnavis has not mentioned any timeline, Deputy CM and Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde said the ministers of his party will get two-and-a-half years and those who perform will progress. Deputy Chief Minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar said «non-performers» can be replaced in two-and-a-half-months also.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The country’s principal manager of retirement savings for private-sector employees, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), is working on a facility to let subscribers withdraw funds from their corpus through ATM cards, subject to a limit. While this would be welcome, the EPFO also finds itself being held responsible for a pension crisis that has put about 1.75 million retirees in dire straits, pushing many to despair.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The government may infuse fresh capital into its loss-making general insurers in the next financial year to strengthen their operations and help them meet regulatory requirements, two people aware of the plans said. The Union budget may allocate additional capital for these insurers after reassessing their quarterly parameters in the nine-month period ending December 2024, the people said on the condition of anonymity.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Vani Kola-led Kalaari Capital has returned more than $100 million in exits in the current calendar year. This comes at a time when the backer of unicorn companies like Elastic Run, Dream11 and Upstox, among others, has pumped in around $25 million in more than 10 companies this calendar year, Kola said in an interview with Mint.

Zakir Hussain passed away at the age of 73 in the US on Sunday, December 15. The legendary musician had been hospitalized due to serious health concerns, with updates shared on social media. Hussain was admitted to the ICU due to heart-related issues. Soon after the news borke, industrialist Harsh Goenka tweeted, «The world falls silent as the tabla loses its maestro. Ustad Zakir Hussain, a rhythmic genius who brought the soul of India to global stages, has left us. I was privileged to know him because of his connection with HMV and hear him perform at our home. His beats will echo eternally.»

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Gray Matters: A Biography of Brain Surgery. By Theodore Schwartz.

Music concerts are the latest craze, with many travelling overseas to watch their favourite performers. In India, stellar responses to Coldplay, Bryan Adams, Ed Sheeran and Diljit Dosanjh concerts signal that such large shows in India are likely to continue. Rising disposable incomes are spurring several others to fly to Southeast and West Asia, or even Europe, especially to watch artistes who don’t have an India stopover during international tours.

AI crawlers are computer programs that gather data from websites to train large language models. With increased use of AI search and need for collecting training data, the internet is seeing many new web scrapers such as Bytespider, PerplexityBot, ClaudeBot and GPTBot. Until 2022, the internet had conventional search engine crawlers such as GoogleBot, AppleBot and BingBot which obeyed the principles of ethical content scraping and scheduling for decades.

YouTube, a lawyer said. Milad Panahipour, an Iranian lawyer, said Parastoo Ahmady was arrested in Sari City, capital of the northern province of Mazandaran, on Saturday. On Thursday, the judiciary had filed a case regarding 27-year-old Ahmady’s concert performance, in which she performed wearing a long black sleeveless and collarless dress, but no hijab. She was accompanied by four male musicians, AP reported. Ahmady had posted her concert on YouTube the day before, saying: “I am Parastoo, a girl who wants to sing for the people I love. This is a right I could not ignore; singing for the land I love passionately.”

Automotive Research Association of India) is the organisation mandated with making sure the vehicles you buy in India meet standards. From Bharat NCAP (New Car Assessment Program) safety standards, to fuel efficiency figures under test conditions, to ensuring homologation of vehicles, this is the entity that tests and certifies automobiles sold in the country. It does all of this out of its 260 acre base in Pune, equipped with a large number of testing facilities. Incorporated in 1966, the cooperative industrial research association under the Ministry of Heavy Industries has had quite the journey thus far. But what is happening now is clearly new. It, along with the entire automotive industry, is now in the middle of the big energy transition, from fossil fuels to electric and other alternative sources of energy.