Key Points:
- Linwei Ding, a former Google engineer, was arrested for stealing over 500 AI trade secrets; he allegedly transferred documents to personal accounts.
- Ding faces four counts of theft of trade secrets, with a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 for each count if convicted.
- Google expressed gratitude to the FBI for their assistance and emphasized their commitment to safeguarding confidential information.
- Previous arrests of Chinese nationals for similar offenses highlight ongoing concerns about intellectual property theft.
A former Google engineer, Linwei Ding, was apprehended in California for allegedly pilfering over 500 files containing AI trade secrets from the tech giant. The stolen information was purportedly utilized to benefit rival tech firms in China.
The indictment, unveiled in a federal California court, accuses Ding, a 38-year-old Chinese national who joined Google in 2019, of transferring trade secrets from his Google-issued laptop to personal cloud storage accounts. These documents encompassed crucial components of Google’s AI infrastructure, and Ding uploaded them to personal accounts over one year from May 2022 to May 2023.
Ding faces four counts of theft of trade secrets, with a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 for each count if convicted. Google expressed gratitude to the FBI for their assistance and emphasized their commitment to safeguarding confidential commercial information.
This incident unfolded amidst heightened tensions between the United States and China over advancements in artificial intelligence. The Biden administration previously prohibited the export of advanced AI chips to China to prevent the country from leveraging AI for military purposes.
The indictment divulged intricate details of Ding’s alleged misconduct, including copying data into Apple Notes and then converting it to PDF files for upload to his personal Google account to evade detection. Ding also purportedly deceived Google by handing his badge to another employee, giving the impression he was working from Google’s offices while assisting rival companies in China. He allegedly aided in raising capital for one Chinese firm and established another as its CEO.
This isn’t an isolated incident; the US has previously arrested Chinese nationals for stealing trade secrets. The US attorney’s office in San Francisco charged three former Apple employees for similar offenses related to the Apple Car project, sentencing one engineer to six months in prison and imposing significant fines.
