Verizon Posts Best Q1 in 13 Years as CEO Gets Lost in the AI Sauce

For the first time since 2013, Verizon posted Q1 numbers that they are quite proud of. Verizon has posted positive postpaid phone net adds of 55,000, which is a 340,000 increase over the same quarter of last year, and again, the first time they’ve had positive numbers in Q1 in 13 years.

This news is important as Verizon took on a new CEO last year who promised major changes at all levels of the company in order to make a comeback. Verizon has been getting crushed by T-Mobile and AT&T in recent years, at least in terms of postpaid phone adds, so the “full reboot” that new CEO Dan Schulman talked about is probably needed.

During today’s earnings call, Schulman was clearly happy with his company’s previous quarter. He confirmed that the previous CEO’s blunt price increases were stupid and pissed off a lot of their customers who left for T-Mobile and AT&T. He also continued to use the word “delight” when describing how they wanted to treat customers under his watch.

Schulman brought up the value proposition that he first talked about in late 2025. This is supposed to be the next big step in Verizon’s comeback, but the entire idea of this “value proposition” has been kept quite secret. In January, Schulman said that this should arrive in the first half of the year. Today, he didn’t necessarily lean any heavier into that timeline, but did say that they are in the final stages of extensive market research before they are able to push out a new generation of offers.

For those who have listened to Schulman speak since taking over Verizon, you probably assumed that he talked about being an “AI first” company on the call and you would be correct. This is a guy who has fully bought into the idea that AI is going to take over the world and do more than just meaningfully change our lives.

Verizon recently laid off 13,000 workers because Schulman wants to “simplify” their operations during this reboot. Part of that simplification, at least in all of the vibes he’s given, has to do with AI doing the work of humans. In his letter to the employees he was letting go, he announced a fund to help train those who were now unemployed to get them ready for “the age of AI.”

Schulman, at least according to his on-the-record comments, is on the extreme side of where AI is about to take us. In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, the guy said some alarming stuff.

He warned that we could see 20% to 30% unemployment within the next 2-5 years because of AI and humanoid robots. He called this being “authentic” and hoped other CEOs would speak similarly or at least more realistically to their own employees about how bad things might get with AI. Great.

Where this all gets a bit odd is when the piece from the WSJ starts talking further about Schulman’s embrace of AI going “deeper than cost-cutting.” Schulman has repeatedly told Verizon staff that they must embrace AI and looks to create a company that is completely reshaped by it.

While talking to staff about the importance of AI, Schulman reportedly encouraged them to talk to their children about it at the dinner table. He also told them to ask AI to write their own obituary to see how it framed their lives. Oh, he’s apparently big on AI writing poetry for him to send to his wife, so he also told staff to give that a try.

Bro. What the fuck.

He also likened this period of time to the Renaissance or when fire was first invented, suggesting how “cool” it is to be a part of such a big stage of the human existence. He really thinks “We’re just not appreciating it for what it could be,” which is an odd thing to say after telling the world to prepare for 30% unemployment.

None of this is good. I mean, Verizon’s Q1 numbers certainly are an improvement, but the fact that their CEO can preach world-altering, economic doom and also how cool it is that AI can create poetry slop or pre-write your death note to shame you for not fulfilling your life, is some dark shit.