Articles · applied AI from Saudi Arabia
The Bot Took Nearly Half the Calls. IKEA Retrained the People.
A chatbot took on nearly half of IKEA's customer queries. IKEA put thousands of its call-centre workers through training for a new job.
When a chatbot can answer nearly half of your customer queries, the arithmetic is tempting. Fewer calls means fewer people. IKEA's largest retailer, Ingka Group, was in exactly that position, and what it did next is worth reading slowly.
The bot, and what came next
IKEA's chatbot, Billie, handled 47% of customer queries to its call centres over two years, according to a 2023 Reuters report. In the same report, Ingka said it had trained 8,500 call-centre workers as interior design advisers since 2021. These advisers sell by phone or video. In Ingka's 2022 financial year, that service brought in 1.3 billion euros, 3.3% of its total sales.
Asked whether more AI could mean fewer staff, Ingka's global people and culture manager said that was not what they were seeing.
My read: the bot gave the hours back, and the people turned them into sales.
What this does not prove
Be careful with this story. The figure is revenue, not profit. The report is from 2023. And in March 2026, Ingka announced it would cut about 800 roles, mostly in its group functions, saying the business had grown too complex. The coverage I read does not name AI as the reason. So retraining is not a promise that nobody loses a job. It shows what one large company chose to do with a chatbot that was already working.
The newer evidence
Gartner surveyed 350 executives at organisations with at least a billion dollars in revenue that were piloting or running AI agents or automation. About 80% reported workforce reductions, at nearly the same rate whether their returns were high or poor. Gartner's analyst said the organisations that improved their returns invested in people rather than cutting jobs. The survey ran in the third quarter of 2025 and was published in May 2026.
The question for Saudi organisations
I build AI receptionists for hotels and hospitals in Saudi Arabia, so I sit close to this question. An AI that answers the phone takes on work that people used to do. The useful question is not "who can we replace?" It is "what could our people do with the hours back?"
Replacement saves a salary. Redeployment leads to growth.
Sources: Reuters, 13 June 2023, on IKEA (via The Star); Gartner press release, 5 May 2026; Retail Gazette, March 2026, on Ingka's job cuts.
IKEA and its logo are trademarks of their respective owner. AI.me is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by IKEA. IKEA is named, and its logo shown, only to report publicly available information.