, the carrier seemingly enlisted staff to train the very AI models intended to replace them.
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 employs 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 the terminations were a result of its use of AI, but an employee’s email contradicts the claim.
The program required sales representatives to interact with an AI program made by Mindtickle, a company known for making tools and content for sales improvement. Employees were not allowed to opt out of the exercises.
The tool simulated a scenario in which an employee interacted with an AI bot pretending to be a disgruntled customer on the verge of switching. Employees were then tasked with convincing the AI customer to stay.Verizon didn’t make clear whether employee responses would be used to train AI models.
Business and consumer employees both went through the training, though the program was reportedly more intense for the latter.
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
What was the point of the exercise?
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 as a last-ditch effort to slow down churn. Verizon could have been trying to provide personalized training to employees about how to retain customers. Role-playing customer conversations is something AI might facilitate better than traditional training, a potential reason for Verizon‘s approach.
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 improve how customer queries are handled.
Our source tells us that while Verizon had been using Mindtickle’s tools since late August, its trainings weren’t mandatory or high-pressure before Schulman took over, suggesting the carrier’s objective for using the program changed around the time Schulman became CEO.
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.
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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