Ex-Google engineer charged with stealing AI secrets
A former Google software engineer has been indicted in the United States for allegedly stealing trade secrets related to artificial intelligence (AI) while concurrently employed by two Chinese companies.
Linwei Ding, also known as Leon Ding, faces four charges in California and was apprehended on Wednesday. The Chinese citizen purportedly absconded with over 500 confidential files, each charge carrying a potential penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment and $250,000 in fines.
As per local media, no legal representative for Mr. Ding has been identified to offer comment on the case. The purloined information pertains to Google’s supercomputing data center infrastructure, crucial for hosting and training large AI models.
According to the indictment, Mr. Ding joined Google in 2019, tasked with software development responsibilities. Starting in May 2022, he allegedly began transferring data from Google’s network to his personal account, continuing this activity intermittently over the subsequent year.
During this period, he purportedly spent several months in China, serving as the Chief Technology Officer for Beijing Rongshu Lianzhi Technology, which reportedly offered him a monthly salary of $14,800. Additionally, Mr. Ding allegedly established his own tech enterprise, Shanghai Zhisuan Technology, specializing in AI and machine learning, where he assumed the role of CEO.
The BBC has reached out to Rongshu for comment, while Zhisuan was not immediately reachable. Prosecutors contend that Mr. Ding concealed his employment with these companies from Google.
The indictment states that he applied to a China-based organisation to help develop this business and presented it at an investor conference in China in November 2023.
The following month, he was flagged by Google trying to upload more files to his personal computer while in China, but Mr Ding told Google’s investigator it was to provide proof that he worked for the tech giant.
When he returned to the US and unbeknownst to Google, Mr Ding is said to have booked a one-way ticket from San Francisco to Beijing, before resigning on 26 December.
Days later, Google once again became suspicious after learning about his actions at the conference and suspended his access – searching his activity history to reveal the unauthorised uploads.
A spokesman for Google, José Castañeda, said the company has “strict safeguards to prevent the theft of our confidential commercial information and trade secrets,” adding that the company quickly alerted the authorities when it found evidence of alleged wrongdoing.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement on Wednesday that Linwei Ding was seeking to enrich himself by covertly working for companies that were “seeking an edge in the AI technology race”.
“The Justice Department will not tolerate the theft of artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies that could put our national security at risk,” Mr Garland said.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said Mr Ding’s alleged actions “are the latest illustration of the lengths” companies in China will go to, “to steal American innovation”.
The US and China have been engaged in a bitter trade battle in recent years, with both sides attempting to gain a competitive edge over the other.
The dispute has seen both countries impose tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of one another’s goods.
Trade relations have worsened under the Biden administration, with the two sides imposing new barriers on trade, including restrictions on computer chip exports.
