By Jennifer Elias
Publication Date: 2025-12-19 16:57:00
Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Alphabet Inc., during the Bloomberg Tech conference in San Francisco, California, US, on Wednesday, June 4, 2025.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
With the AI talent wars heating up between companies like OpenAI, Meta and Anthropic, one way Google has been competing is by aggressively rehiring former employees.
Some 20% of software engineers working on artificial intelligence that Google hired in 2025 were so-called boomerang employees, an increase from prior years, CNBC has learned. A Google spokesperson confirmed the statistic remains accurate as of December, and said the company saw a jump in the number of AI researchers coming from major competitors compared to 2024.
“We’re energized by our momentum, compute and talent — engineers want to work here to keep building groundbreaking products,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
John Casey, Google’s head of compensation, recently told employees in a meeting about the rehiring….