Photo:
Tensions escalate between US and China over AI development.
A former Google engineer has been arrested in California for stealing over 500 files containing artificial intelligence (AI) trade secrets from the company. Linwei Ding, a 38-year-old Chinese national who joined Google in 2019, is accused of uploading the stolen trade secrets to personal cloud storage accounts and using the information for the benefit of rival tech companies in China. The stolen documents reportedly included essential components of Google’s AI infrastructure. Ding was apprehended in Newark, California, and has been charged with four counts of theft of trade secrets, each carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Google spokesperson José Castañeda stated that the company has strict safeguards in place to protect its confidential information and trade secrets and that they promptly referred the case to law enforcement after discovering the theft. The FBI has been praised for its assistance in the investigation, with FBI director Christopher Wray emphasizing the economic and national security consequences of stealing American innovation.
This incident occurs against the backdrop of heightened tensions between the US and China regarding the rapid development of AI. Last year, the Biden administration enforced a ban on the export of advanced AI chips designed by American companies, such as NVIDIA, to China, aiming to prevent the country from leveraging AI to strengthen its military capabilities. Wray’s statement reflects concerns about the lengths to which affiliates of Chinese companies are willing to go in order to steal American innovation.
The indictment reveals the details of Ding’s alleged crime, stating that he initially copied information from Google’s files into Apple Notes on his laptop and then converted them into PDF files, which he uploaded to his personal Google account to evade detection by Google’s data loss prevention systems. Ding also reportedly provided his Google badge to another Google employee in California to create the illusion that he was working from Google’s offices in the state while actually assisting rival companies in China. Prosecutors claim that Ding played a role in raising capital for one of the Chinese companies he worked with as its chief technology officer, and he also founded another AI company in China and served as its CEO.
This is not the first time that a Chinese national has been arrested in the US for stealing trade secrets from American companies. The US attorney’s office in San Francisco has previously charged three former Apple employees with stealing trade secrets related to the Apple Car and transferring them to Chinese companies. One of those engineers was recently sentenced to six months in prison and ordered to pay nearly $150,000 in fines.