Google Engineer Quits After 18 Years Over Rapid AI Adoption

A former Google test engineer resigned in November 2025 after 18 years at the company, citing discomfort with the pace of AI integration into daily work. Matt Lowrie joined Google in 2006 as a test engineer and later worked on 3D software, web applications, Google Now, and cloud software.

By 2024 the company was directing employees to use AI tools for coding tasks. Lowrie said he was interested in machine learning but struggled to trust AI-generated code for work he had performed for years. He described the process as less engaging than writing code from scratch and said younger colleagues adapted more quickly.

Lowrie resigned at age 55 after saving enough to retire early.

He stated he felt he had aged out of the company's direction and wanted to avoid the stress of learning new tools under work deadlines.

After leaving, Lowrie used Google's Gemini tool to build a personal application for searching World Cup matches by team and city. He also refined prompts to generate custom images, such as an illustration of Steph Curry holding a birthday cake. Lowrie said these experiments showed him that AI can increase productivity when used outside of work pressure.

He added that improving written language skills helped him write better prompts for large language models. Google declined to comment on the matter.