Former Google Engineer Indicted for Allegedly Stealing AI Trade Secrets
A former Google software engineer, Linwei Ding, also known as Leon Ding, has been indicted in California for allegedly stealing trade secrets related to artificial intelligence from Google to benefit two Chinese companies he was covertly working for. A federal jury in San Francisco has indicted the 38-year-old Chinese national on four counts of theft of trade secrets.
He was arrested at his home in Newark, California, on Wednesday morning. Legal representation for Ding has not been immediately identified.
Ding’s indictment comes to light just over a year after the Biden administration established an interagency aimed at preventing the acquisition of advanced technology by nations like China and Russia, which could pose potential threats to national security. The U.S. Department of Justice reaffirmed its steadfast commitment to combatting the theft of our trade secrets and intelligence. Attorney General Merrick Garland during a conference in San Francisco.
Alleged Theft of Chip Blueprints and Subsequent Investigation at Google
Google purportedly crafted some of the chip blueprints that were allegedly stolen with the intention of outpacing its cloud computing competitors like Amazon.com and Microsoft, both of which develop their own chips, and lessening its dependence on Nvidia chips.
Ding, who was hired by Google in 2019, allegedly initiated the thefts three years later while being pursued to assume the role of chief technology officer for a nascent Chinese tech firm. By May 2023, it’s claimed that he had uploaded over 500 confidential files.
According to the indictment, Ding established his own technology company in that same month and shared a document in a chat group stating, “We have experience with Google’s ten-thousand-card computational.
In December 2023, Google began to harbor suspicions about Ding, prompting them to seize his laptop on January 4, 2024, a day before Ding planned to resign. Jose Castaneda, a Google spokesperson, emphasized their robust measures to safeguard confidential commercial information and trade secrets, noting that following an investigation, it was determined that Ding had illicitly acquired numerous documents. Google promptly reported the matter to law enforcement. Ding could potentially face a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for each criminal count.
FBI Director and Google Respond to Trade Secret Theft
FBI Director Christopher Wray stated, “Today’s charges underscore the extensive efforts affiliates of companies based in the People’s Republic of China are willing to undertake to pilfer American innovation. The theft of innovative technology and trade secrets from American companies can result in job losses and have severe economic and national security repercussions.”
Google confirmed that it had determined the employee had taken “numerous documents” and reported the issue to law enforcement. Jose Castaneda, a Google spokesperson, emphasized, “We have stringent measures in place to prevent the theft of our confidential commercial information and trade secrets. After conducting an investigation, we found that this employee had unlawfully obtained multiple documents, and we immediately notified law enforcement of the situation. We are grateful to the FBI for assisting in safeguarding our information and will continue to closely collaborate with them.”
A former Google engineer has been charged with stealing AI trade secrets from the company. @EamonJavers reports. $GOOGL pic.twitter.com/TUmyCkGjsr
— Last Call (@LastCallCNBC) March 7, 2024
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