Chinese National Arrested In US For Stealing AI Trade Secrets From Google (Photo by Max Duzij on Unsplash)
A former Google engineer was arrested in the United States for stealing artificial intelligence (AI) trade secrets from the company. Linwei Ding, a Chinese software engineer, was indicted in California on four charges and was arrested on Wednesday.
According to the US Justice Department, the Chinese national allegedly stole technology from Google while secretly working for two technology companies based in China. 38-year-old Linwei Ding transferred “sensitive Google trade secrets” and other confidential information from Google’s network to his personal account while secretly affiliating himself with People’s Republic of China (PRC)-based firms in the AI industry.
A statement released by the US Justice Department indicates that the technology Linwei Ding allegedly stole involves the building blocks of Google’s advanced supercomputing data centers, which are designed to support machine learning workloads used to train and host large AI models. It is to be noted that the tech giant hired Ding as a software engineer in 2019. Developing the software deployed in Google’s supercomputing data center was one of the responsibilities of Linwei Ding.
As part of the job, the software engineer was also granted access to Google”s confidential information. As per the indictment, Linwei Ding started secretly uploading trade secrets in May 2022 by copying the information into a personal Google Cloud account. He continued periodic uploads until May 2023. Ding has allegedly uploaded more than 500 unique files stored in Google”s network. In June 2022, he also received emails from the CEO of an early-stage Chinese technology company indicating Ding had been offered the position of Chief Technology Officer for the company.
The FBI and Commerce Department are investigating this case, and the Chinese national is charged with four counts of theft of trade secrets. He will face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine for each count if convicted. “We will fiercely protect sensitive technologies developed in America from falling into the hands of those who should not have them,” said Attorney General Garland in a statement.
