In an innovative twist, tech company CEOs are now utilizing AI avatars to take their place during earnings calls, marking a shift towards an AI-first corporate landscape.
Klarna, a company known for its buy now, pay later services, showcased an AI representation of CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski in an 83-second video discussing the company’s Q1 2025 results. As noted by TechCrunch, the video’s description highlights that the “AI avatar” is delivering the report, beginning with the line, “it’s me, or rather, my AI avatar.”
Siemiatkowski has been open about Klarna’s integration of AI in its operations. In a recent interview with CNBC, he revealed that AI investments have contributed to a 40% reduction in the company’s workforce. This marks not the first instance of an AI representation being used for earnings updates, indicating a trend within the company.
Similarly, Zoom CEO Eric Yuan introduced his AI avatar during the company’s Q1 2026 earnings call on Wednesday. “Today, I’m using our custom avatars for Zoom Clips with AI Companion to share my part of the earnings report,” Yuan noted in a video presentation. He expressed pride in being one of the first CEOs to implement an avatar in this setting, as highlighted by a message in the corner of the video that read “created with Zoom AI Companion.”
For the live Q&A segment of the call, Yuan appeared in person. He remarked, “I truly love my AI-generated avatar,” and expressed his intention to continue using this technology. His enthusiasm aligns with his vision of integrating “digital twins” to participate in meetings on behalf of users.
