Google’s AI-powered fiber network aims for full autonomy by year’s end

Google is fast-tracking its fiber infrastructure into the future, aiming to achieve full Level 5 network autonomy—the highest benchmark for self-managing networks—by the end of 2025.

Speaking at Google Cloud Next, Muninder Sambi, VP and GM for Network and Security at Google Cloud, said the tech giant is overhauling its two-million-mile fiber backbone to become entirely AI-managed. “We are going from automation to autonomous,” Sambi told Fierce Network, describing a vision where human intervention becomes obsolete.

At the heart of this transformation are AI agents that will take full control of network operations—from diagnostics and redundancy to capacity and vendor diversity—via a fully programmable infrastructure. Google’s protective re-route (PRR) technology, developed to surpass the limitations of legacy routing protocols like MPLS (a routing technique that directs data through a network based on short path labels rather than long network addresses), will enable instant failover between network “slices” to maintain seamless performance.

Level 5, as defined by TM Forum, represents a state of complete autonomy, surpassing the Level 4 milestone already achieved by global operators like China Mobile and Brazil’s Vivo. Google’s approach blending physical upgrades with a “digital twin” of its network, allowing operators to simulate, monitor, and optimize the infrastructure without affecting the live environment, could put it first to hit this elite status. The move also supports Google’s Cloud WAN offering, signaling a broader strategy to embed AI-native infrastructure across its services.