Google's AI Talent War: 1 in 5 New Hires Are Former Employees

• One in five Google AI hires in 2025 were former employees, termed "boomerang employees," amidst a fierce AI talent war.
• This trend is driven by intensifying competition for AI talent, with Google leveraging its financial resources and vast computing infrastructure.
• Google's massive layoffs in early 2023 created a large pool of former employees available for rehire.
• The company is aggressively working to regain ground in generative AI, investing heavily and speeding up product launches like Gemini 3.
• Competition for AI talent is intense, with rivals like Microsoft, OpenAI, and Meta offering huge incentives; Google even rehired Noam Shazeer and his Character.AI team.

Why It Matters: Google is aggressively rehiring former staff to win the intense AI talent war and boost its AI initiatives.