MILAN (Reuters) – Teleperformance shares fell to a 7-year low on Thursday on concerns artificial intelligence (AI) will disrupt the French call centre firm’s business.

Two traders and a Midcap Partners analyst linked the drop to a statement by Swedish fintech company Klarna on Wednesday, which spoke of a boost to its results from its AI assistant, powered by Open AI.

Teleperformance shares were down 27% to 97.04 euros ($104.92) in Paris at 1115 GMT, on track for their largest one-day decline since November 2022, after being temporarily halted from trading.

The French company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Klarna said in a release its AI assistant has handled two thirds of its customer service chats since it was launched a month ago.

As a result, the Swedish company forecasts a $40 million boost to profit in 2024.

Teleperformance started 2023 with a strong push towards generative artificial intelligence (AI), announcing that 20% to 30% of its activities would be automated within the next three years, before downplaying expectations due to a limited response to the new technology from clients.

In 2023, analysts had already pointed to Teleperformance as a company that might be vulnerable to the disruptive effects of AI.

($1 = 0.9249 euros)

(This story has been corrected to say shares fell to a 7-year low, not a record low, in paragraph 1)

(Reporting by Danilo Masoni, Augustin Turpin and Stéphanie Hamel; Editing by Amanda Cooper and Sharon Singleton)