Verizon CEO emerges as telecom's AI doomster-in-chief - Light Reading

Dan Schulman, the man who presided over Verizon's recent layoffs of over 2,000 employees, has now appointed himself the telecom sector's prophet of AI-induced doom. In a refreshingly candid moment, he suggests bosses should be 'more honest' with staff about the coming upheaval, which he forecasts could see unemployment hit 30% within two to five years. One might wonder if the honesty should have started before those pink slips were printed, but it's always easier to warn about the storm after you've already boarded up the windows.

Schulman's other prediction — that artificial general intelligence could arrive by the end of next year — is the sort of timeline that would make most safety researchers break out in a cold sweat. Yet here it is, delivered with the casual authority of a telecom executive who, until recently, was more focused on 5G rollouts than recursive self-improvement. It's the corporate equivalent of spotting a tsunami on the horizon and deciding now is the perfect time to discuss beachfront property values. The gap between this kind of executive prognosticating and any actual preparedness is a chasm wide enough to swallow entire industries.

What's particularly delicious is the context: this is the same Verizon that, just last quarter, touted its 'AI-driven efficiencies' as a key part of its restructuring. So the script reads: cut jobs using AI, then warn everyone AI will cut more jobs, all while speculating about AGI's imminent arrival like it's a new product launch. It's a masterclass in having your dystopian cake and eating it too, served with a side of utter regulatory vacuum. No policy framework exists to manage a 30% unemployment spike driven by automation, but at least we'll have a CEO on record saying 'I told you so' while the bills come due.