As the competition for AI talent intensifies to unprecedented levels, Google is taking proactive measures to enhance its team prowess by rehiring former employees. According to reliable sources, around 20% of the AI software engineers that Google has brought on board in 2025 are former staff members, marking a notably higher percentage compared to previous years. A Google spokesperson has verified the accuracy of these figures and disclosed that the number of AI researchers the company has poached from its competitors has seen an uptick since 2024.

This strategic move is intricately linked to Google's financial robustness and its edge in large-scale computing infrastructure. The company's formidable computational resources and engineering expertise have emerged as pivotal elements in luring AI talent. Among the returning employees are influential figures, such as the renowned AI expert Noam Shazeer. After departing to co-found Character.AI in 2021, he, along with his team, made a comeback to Google DeepMind in 2024.

Google's competitive approach has yielded positive results: the Gemini 3 model, unveiled in 2025, has garnered widespread praise, propelling the company's stock price up by over 60% year-to-date and outperforming other major tech stocks in the process.