Verizon’s chief executive has said artificial intelligence will replace more of the company’s workers, signaling a broader push to automate customer-facing roles at one of the United States’ largest wireless carriers.
The comments add Verizon to a growing list of major corporations betting on AI to cut labor costs, even as workers and consumer advocates warn the shift degrades service quality.
What the CEO Said
CEO Hans Vestberg made the remarks amid ongoing pressure from investors to improve margins at the carrier, which reported roughly $134 billion in operating revenue for 2023, according to Verizon's annual filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Vestberg has pointed to AI-driven customer service tools as a way to handle call volume without adding headcount.
A Sector-Wide Shift
Verizon is not alone. Carriers and large enterprises across the U.S. have accelerated AI deployment in call centers, where automation can handle routine billing questions, technical troubleshooting, and account changes without a human agent.
Still, critics argue that AI chatbots and voice systems frustrate customers who face complex problems — the exact situations where human judgment Matters Most.
Gartner projected that by 2026, one in 10 agent interactions will be automated, up from an estimated 1.6% in 2022, reflecting the speed at which the industry is moving.
The Jobs Question
For Verizon employees, the stakes are direct. The company employed approximately 105,400 workers as of the end of 2023, according to its SEC filing.
Any meaningful shift toward AI-handled customer interactions would likely hit call center and retail support staff hardest.
The Communications Workers of America, the union representing a large portion of Verizon’s frontline workforce, has repeatedly pushed back against automation strategies it says eliminate good-paying jobs without equivalent replacement.
That pressure has done little to slow corporate investment in the technology. By contrast, companies argue AI frees human agents to handle higher-value work — a claim labor groups dispute.
Customers in the Middle
Consumer frustration with automated phone systems is well-documented. A 2023 survey by Salesforce found that 81% of customers prefer resolving issues through a human agent when dealing with a complex problem.
At the same time, carriers face real operational pressure. Verizon spent heavily on 5G spectrum acquisition — paying $45.5 billion in the FCC’s C-band auction alone, according to the Federal Communications Commission — and needs to find cost efficiencies across the business.
AI in customer service represents one of the fastest levers available to large telecoms looking to reduce operating expenses without cutting network investment.
