Apr 27, 2026 - Business
Axios C-Suite: Verizon CEO Dan Schulman's hard truths
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Verizon CEO Dan Schulman is the rare Fortune 100 chief willing to say aloud what many say and think privately: AI could disrupt the labor market, and the CEO class is sleepwalking into the backlash.
Why it matters: Every one of us is running the same quiet playbook — costs out, headcount down, AI in. Schulman is saying it on the record. His candor seems like the smart move, not the risky one.
🚨 His three warnings:
- Mass unemployment, fast — IF the private and public sectors don't act faster to proactively address its challenges and opportunities. 20–30% joblessness within two to five years as AI eats white-collar work. He laid off 13K just after taking the job last year.
- Humanoids come for the "safe" jobs next. The manual-labor work most boards assume is AI-proof — warehouse, field service, construction — gets hit within seven years.
- The disruption is stacking. AGI by the end of 2027. Quantum right behind it. Humanoids layered on top. Your reskilling window is already closing.
✅ His three fixes:
- Pool a reskilling war chest now. Verizon put up $20M for laid-off workers. Schulman publicly challenged other Fortune 100 CEOs to do the same to co-fund a transition program that can work alongside the public sector.
- Kill the happy talk. Tell your people the truth about what's coming or face a real backlash. His mantra: "being authentic, being realistic, telling the truth."
- Drag AI into daily life. He's asked his employees to continually experiment and used the examples of writing obituaries and poetry as interesting twists on testing it.
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