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Internal Verizon program may explain recent changes

Verizon employees may have been training their replacements.

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By Anam Hamid

Updated: Dec 08, 2025, 2:02 AM

A former Verizon employee exclusively tells us that the company has been using employee expertise to train its AI-powered troubleshooting systems for over a year. They were laid off as part of Verizon's massive layoffs, and they believe they have been replaced by AI.

The future is AI at Verizon

Verizon's new CEO, Dan Schulman, announced the company's decision to let go of 13,000 of its 100,000 employees in late November. The move squared with the beleaguered carrier's plan to transform itself after nearly a year of customer losses. At that time, the company denied that the terminations were a result of its use of AI, but a former employee's email contradicts the claim.

The laid-off employee tells us that they were part of a pilot team whose job was to troubleshoot call-related issues. They suspect that their job was essentially training AI, though it's not clear if Verizon informed them of this.

Verizon is the first company to set up a fund to specifically focus on the opportunities and necessary skill sets as we enter the age of AI. It is my intent to also work with other companies and the public sector to address the opportunities and challenges in a world where technology will impact all of us.

Dan Schulman, Verizon CEO, November 2025

Were employees training their replacements?

Since Verizon didn't explicitly say that employee interactions would be used to train AI, it's possible that the company was using these exercises to improve its operations.

Or, the purpose of the program may have been to gather data for AI-powered tools. After all, an AI-driven customer-centric transformation has been on Verizon's agenda since before Schulman took over, and it has been using AI since June to better handle customer queries.

Since Verizon had been using the tools for over a year, the carrier's objective for using AI might not have been to automate jobs with the intent of replacing employees.

Verizon's layoffs have reportedly already started impacting operations, and the company has seemingly opened some positions recently. Whether this means that an AI takeover isn't going as well as planned or that the company simply needs a new set of skills isn't known.

Would you be fine with dealing chatbots instead of human representatives?

No.

79.32%

Yes.

2.16%

Only if they are more helpful than human employees.

18.52%

So, did Verizon replace jobs with AI?

That's a question only Verizon can answer. The larger, more concerning question is whether the company used employees to train the very AI models designed to replace them. Verizon's new CEO's goal is to improve efficiency, and one way to do that is to offload tasks to AI.

Verizon has allegedly been surpassed by T-Mobile as the largest carrier by subscriber base, and it cannot rely on price hikes anymore to bolster revenue. In such a scenario, turning to AI to cut costs is the obvious choice.

We have asked Verizon for comment and will update the article if we hear from the company.

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Anam Hamid is a computer scientist turned tech journalist who has a keen interest in the tech world, with a particular focus on smartphones and tablets. She has previously written for Android Headlines and has also been a ghostwriter for several tech and car publications. Anam is not a tech hoarder and believes in using her gadgets for as long as possible. She is concerned about smartphone addiction and its impact on future generations, but she also appreciates the convenience that phones have brought into our lives. Anam is excited about technological advancements like folding screens and under-display sensors, and she often wonders about the future of technology. She values the overall experience of a device more than its individual specs and admires companies that deliver durable, high-quality products. In her free time, Anam enjoys reading, scrolling through Reddit and Instagram, and occasionally refreshing her programming skills through tutorials.

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