A former Google software engineer, Linwei Ding, has been charged with stealing artificial intelligence (AI) trade secrets by the US Justice Department. The Chinese national was arrested in Newark, California, on four counts of federal trade secret theft, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Mr Ding was accused of stealing confidential information about Google’s supercomputing data centres while secretly working with two Chinese companies. Google discovered the theft after finding that Mr. Ding had uploaded hundreds of files into a personal Google Cloud account.
Secretly working with two Chinese companies
The accusation revealed that Mr Ding began uploading the files two years ago. A few weeks later, he was offered a position as chief technology officer at a Chinese technology company. He was also the founder and CEO of a China-based startup that aimed to train large AI models powered by supercomputing chips.
Google described Mr. Ding as a junior employee who resigned from the company on December 26th. Three days later, company executives discovered that he had presented as CEO of a Chinese company at an investment conference in Beijing.
Security footage revealed another employee used Ding’s ID badge to enter the Google building while he was in China, according to the indictment.
Google suspended Mr. Ding’s network access and locked his laptop, discovering his unauthorized uploads while searching his network activity history. The FBI later executed a search warrant at Mr. Ding’s home and seized his electronic devices.
Google’s Response
According to Google’s spokesperson Jose Castaneda, “We have strict safeguards to prevent the theft of our confidential commercial information and trade secrets. After an investigation, we found that this employee stole numerous documents, and we quickly referred the case to law enforcement. We are grateful to the FBI for helping protect our information and will continue cooperating with them closely.”
