Verizon CEO Dan Schulman says AGI could arrive within 18 months
Speaking in Detroit, the telecom chief called today's AI models the worst we'll ever use and urged businesses to prepare for rapid disruption
Verizon CEO Dan Schulman thinks artificial general intelligence is closer than most people are planning for. At the Ford Pro Accelerate event in Detroit, he put the timeline at somewhere between six and 18 months.
The worst models you’ll ever use
Schulman made the remarks while speaking with Fortune’s Diane Brady. His core argument: AI is improving so fast that whatever you’re using right now is already obsolete in waiting.
“The models that we see today are the worst models we’ll ever use in our lives,” Schulman said. “Every two months, there’s a step function change in the power of the models. I think we get to some form of AGI in the next six to 18 months. I think it’s right on us.”
His forecast suggests AGI could land as early as the end of 2026. Broader estimates in the conversation around his comments stretch from 2026 to 2028, or roughly two to four years out.
Verizon’s bet on becoming AI-native
Schulman is steering Verizon toward what the company calls an “AI-native” model, meaning AI is built into how the business operates rather than bolted on as a side project.
A few pieces of that plan stand out:
Reskilling: Verizon is putting an initial $20 million toward retraining employees for AI-related work. That figure could grow to $60 million.
Tech stack: The company aims to finish a four-layer AI technology stack by November 2026.
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Infrastructure deals: Verizon has a $1 billion agreement with Google involving dark fiber. The company is also pursuing edge-compute partnerships and negotiating additional AI infrastructure deals. Revenue from these efforts is expected to show up alongside broader AI infrastructure buildouts by 2027.
The labor question nobody wants to answer
Schulman has warned of a potential 20% to 30% unemployment rate increase over the next two to five years, driven by advances in AI and robotics.
It also helps explain the reskilling budget. If Schulman believes a large share of current roles could be reshaped or eliminated, retraining workers becomes a practical necessity rather than a public relations gesture.
Why a telecom CEO’s AGI call matters
Verizon doesn’t sell a frontier model. It sells the pipes, fiber and networks that those models depend on. The Google dark fiber deal and the edge-compute push both fit that logic.
Verizon has laid out concrete milestones: the four-layer stack by November 2026 and AI infrastructure revenue contributions by 2027. Those dates give the market a way to measure whether the AI-native strategy produces results.
AGI has no universally agreed definition, which makes any timeline hard to verify. Schulman himself hedged with “some form of AGI,” leaving plenty of room for interpretation.
What to watch next: whether Verizon announces more infrastructure deals along the lines of its Google agreement, and whether the reskilling budget climbs toward the $60 million mark.