Ex-Google software engineer charged with stealing AI technology while working with Chinese companies
WASHINGTON — A former software engineer at Google has been charged with stealing the company’s artificial intelligence technology while secretly working with two companies in China, the Justice Department said Wednesday.
Linwei Ding, a Chinese national, was arrested in Newark, California, on four counts of theft of federal trade secrets, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
The case against Ding was announced at an American Bar Association Conference in San Francisco by Attorney General Merrick Garland, who along with other law enforcement leaders has repeatedly warned of the threat of Chinese economic espionage and the national security concerns arising from the advances in the field of artificial intelligence. intelligence.
“Today’s indictment is the latest example of the extent to which affiliates of companies based in the People’s Republic of China are willing to go to steal American innovation,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement. “The theft of innovative technology and trade secrets from American companies could cost jobs and have devastating consequences for the economy and national security.”
Justice Department leaders have raised alarms in recent weeks about how foreign adversaries could use AI technologies to negatively impact the United States.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a speech last month that the government’s multi-agency Disruptive Technology Strike Force would put AI enforcement at the top of its priority list, and Wray told business leaders last week at an event that made AI and other emerging technologies it easier for opponents to interfere in the American political process.
An indictment unsealed Wednesday in the Northern District of California alleges that Ding, who was hired by Google in 2019 and had access to confidential information about the company’s supercomputer data centers, began uploading hundreds of files to a personal computer two years ago. Google Cloud account.
Within weeks of the theft beginning, prosecutors say, Ding was offered the position of chief technology officer at an early-stage technology company in China that was touting the use of AI technology. According to the indictment, Ding traveled to China and attended investor meetings at the company and attempted to raise capital for it.
He was also separately the founder and CEO of a China-based startup company that aimed to train “large AI models powered by supercomputer chips,” according to the indictment.
Prosecutors say Ding has not disclosed either tie to Google.
He resigned from the company on December 26. Three days later, Google officials learned that he had presented himself as CEO of one of the Chinese companies at an investor conference in Beijing. Officials also checked surveillance that showed another employee had scanned Ding’s access badge at the building where he worked to make it appear as if Ding was there at times when he was actually in China, the complaint said.
It was not immediately clear whether 38-year-old Ding had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.