Amid an intensifying battle for artificial intelligence talent, Google is increasingly rehiring former employees to accelerate its generative AI roadmap. Internal data confirmed by the company shows that nearly one in five software engineers hired for AI roles in 2025 were boomerang employees who had previously worked at Google. This marks a noticeable shift from earlier hiring cycles and reflects the company’s strategy to counter aggressive recruitment by rivals such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta.