Google fights AI talent war by rehiring ex-employees, 1 in 5 AI hires are boomerangs
Google is bringing back former AI engineers to accelerate its generative AI development. According to a new report, one in five software engineers Google hired for AI roles in 2025 were boomerang employees returning to the fold.
When it comes to artificial intelligence, Google is proving that sometimes the best way to move forward is to look back. In a year defined by fierce poaching and astronomical pay offers across Silicon Valley, the tech giant has been quietly luring back some of its brightest former minds. Roughly one in five software engineers Google hired for AI roles in 2025 were boomerang employees, ex-Googlers returning to the fold, according to internal data confirmed by the company, reported by CNBC. The figure marks a notable rise from previous years, highlighting a shift in strategy as Google doubles down on its AI push against rivals like OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta.
A company spokesperson told CNBC the number has held steady through December, and that Google is also seeing a rise in hires directly from competitors, compared to 2024. For the Mountain View-based giant, rehiring alumni isn’t just convenient, it’s tactical.
Google rehires ex-Googlers
Some of the most high-profile returns have come from Google’s own AI past. Noam Shazeer, one of the minds behind the Transformer architecture that underpins nearly every modern AI model, rejoined Google’s DeepMind last year alongside Daniel De Freitas and other members of their Character.AI research team. The comeback followed a licensing deal for Character.AI’s technology, effectively bringing both talent and intellectual property back into Google’s orbit.
It’s a dramatic reversal for Shazeer and De Freitas, who famously left Google in 2021 after their attempts to push forward an internal chatbot project went nowhere. Their new homecoming underscores how aggressively Google is now moving to recapture its lost momentum in generative AI, momentum that was shaken when OpenAI’s ChatGPT burst onto the scene in 2022.
The internal atmosphere at Google has shifted just as dramatically. John Casey, the company’s head of compensation, recently told employees that AI-focused engineers are returning for access to Google’s unmatched compute power and deep research infrastructure, resources that remain the envy of the tech world.
A new tempo at the old Google
After being criticised for sluggish product rollouts and bureaucratic bloat, Google has spent much of 2024 and 2025 in reinvention mode. The company has flattened management layers, cut more than a third of small-team supervisors, and encouraged teams to ship faster, even if it means releasing products before they’re perfectly polished.
That gamble appears to be paying off. Google’s Gemini AI models, particularly the recently launched Gemini 3, have earned plaudits for closing the gap with OpenAI’s GPT lineup. Alphabet’s stock price has surged more than 60 per cent this year, outperforming its megacap peers and restoring confidence in the company’s AI future.
Meanwhile, the competition has only intensified. Microsoft poached around two dozen DeepMind researchers earlier this year, while OpenAI and Meta have been throwing money around with abandon. In June, OpenAI’s Sam Altman reportedly told staff that Meta was dangling $100 million signing bonuses in a bid to recruit top researchers.
Not to be outdone, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who stepped out of retirement in 2023, has personally reached out to candidates to convince them to return, according to a CNBC report. It’s an unusually hands-on recruitment drive from a billionaire founder, but in the current climate, no gesture seems too bold.
Across the tech industry, boomerang employees are on the rise, according to ADP Research, which found the “information” sector leading the rebound trend. But few companies have embraced it quite like Google. For a firm once seen as losing the AI race, rehiring its alumni might just be the smartest innovation of all.
When it comes to artificial intelligence, Google is proving that sometimes the best way to move forward is to look back. In a year defined by fierce poaching and astronomical pay offers across Silicon Valley, the tech giant has been quietly luring back some of its brightest former minds. Roughly one in five software engineers Google hired for AI roles in 2025 were boomerang employees, ex-Googlers returning to the fold, according to internal data confirmed by the company, reported by CNBC. The figure marks a notable rise from previous years, highlighting a shift in strategy as Google doubles down on its AI push against rivals like OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta.
A company spokesperson told CNBC the number has held steady through December, and that Google is also seeing a rise in hires directly from competitors, compared to 2024. For the Mountain View-based giant, rehiring alumni isn’t just convenient, it’s tactical.
Google rehires ex-Googlers
Some of the most high-profile returns have come from Google’s own AI past. Noam Shazeer, one of the minds behind the Transformer architecture that underpins nearly every modern AI model, rejoined Google’s DeepMind last year alongside Daniel De Freitas and other members of their Character.AI research team. The comeback followed a licensing deal for Character.AI’s technology, effectively bringing both talent and intellectual property back into Google’s orbit.
It’s a dramatic reversal for Shazeer and De Freitas, who famously left Google in 2021 after their attempts to push forward an internal chatbot project went nowhere. Their new homecoming underscores how aggressively Google is now moving to recapture its lost momentum in generative AI, momentum that was shaken when OpenAI’s ChatGPT burst onto the scene in 2022.
The internal atmosphere at Google has shifted just as dramatically. John Casey, the company’s head of compensation, recently told employees that AI-focused engineers are returning for access to Google’s unmatched compute power and deep research infrastructure, resources that remain the envy of the tech world.
A new tempo at the old Google
After being criticised for sluggish product rollouts and bureaucratic bloat, Google has spent much of 2024 and 2025 in reinvention mode. The company has flattened management layers, cut more than a third of small-team supervisors, and encouraged teams to ship faster, even if it means releasing products before they’re perfectly polished.
That gamble appears to be paying off. Google’s Gemini AI models, particularly the recently launched Gemini 3, have earned plaudits for closing the gap with OpenAI’s GPT lineup. Alphabet’s stock price has surged more than 60 per cent this year, outperforming its megacap peers and restoring confidence in the company’s AI future.
Meanwhile, the competition has only intensified. Microsoft poached around two dozen DeepMind researchers earlier this year, while OpenAI and Meta have been throwing money around with abandon. In June, OpenAI’s Sam Altman reportedly told staff that Meta was dangling $100 million signing bonuses in a bid to recruit top researchers.
Not to be outdone, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who stepped out of retirement in 2023, has personally reached out to candidates to convince them to return, according to a CNBC report. It’s an unusually hands-on recruitment drive from a billionaire founder, but in the current climate, no gesture seems too bold.
Across the tech industry, boomerang employees are on the rise, according to ADP Research, which found the “information” sector leading the rebound trend. But few companies have embraced it quite like Google. For a firm once seen as losing the AI race, rehiring its alumni might just be the smartest innovation of all.