Executives, CX leaders and analysts are increasingly framing AI agents as tools that can augment human representatives rather than eliminate them entirely, pointing to the continued importance of empathy, judgment and relationship management in customer interactions.
But comments from Verizon CEO Dan Schulman in an interview with Bloomberg TV indicate that some of the industry’s biggest companies still expect significant workforce disruption ahead.
“For sure you’re going to see disruption with AI in certain job functions. I don’t see how that’s not possible. I don't see how anybody can look people in the eye and say that's not possible.”
Pressed on how much customer service work could ultimately be displaced, he added: “It can be a large percentage of customer service.”
Verizon Tests AI Agents That Are ‘Replacing’ Customer Service Reps
Verizon has been testing AI agents in its customer service operations and is already seeing an increase in customer satisfaction, Schulman said.
“In the last 3 months, we’ve been experimenting with agents that are replacing some of our customer service reps,” he said. “And those agents, their customer satisfaction rate is 1,280 basis points better than what we had before.”
Schulman sees AI changing internal operations as well as customer engagement.
“AI will do at least three things inside the company. It will dramatically improve our productivity levels. It will dramatically improve our ability to satisfy customers… And then finally AI is going to radically redefine our value proposition.”
Schulman pointed to Verizon’s internal initiative, “every customer has a name,” which is designed to make customer interactions more individualized.
“That means every customer is individual,” Schulman said. “How we respond to you should be empathetic.”
Schulman said many service interactions remain routine enough for AI agents to handle.
“That function is a function that has a lot of rote parts of it,” he said. “I forgot my password. What’s my billing amount? Those are all simple and easy things for an agent to go do.”
However, Schulman acknowledged that more complex customer issues will still require humans working alongside AI, adding: “More complex things will be a combination of human and machines working together.”
“What we’re seeing in our customer service right now is the rote stuff can be done by agents. More complex is a combination of an agent and a human working hand in hand to be able to satisfy that customer much better than either of them could do alone.”
Verizon Is ‘Leaning Heavy’ on AI
Schulman’s comments come as enterprises across sectors accelerate AI deployments in contact centers, where automation has long promised lower costs and faster resolution times.
Schulman made clear Verizon intends to move quickly.
“I’m going to lean heavy as I think all of my colleagues will. All of Fortune 100 will lean heavy on AI.”
“You cannot be a part of this age without understanding the technological revolution,” Schulman added.
At the same time, the Verizon CEO acknowledged that companies have a responsibility to help workers adapt. The telco has set aside $20 million to train and reskill people impacted by AI, a move described as “the tip of the iceberg.”
“My view is we have a responsibility to put serious money, resource, and effort into training not just our employees, not just people that are impacted, but the communities we serve as well,” Schulman said.
Verizon is training employees across the business, from basic AI literacy to building agents. “Some people don’t even know the right prompts to go use and how to use basic chat bots, to being able to gin up agents.”