Former Google engineer charged with stealing AI trade secrets
A FORMER Google engineer has been accused of stealing trade secrets from the tech giant’s artificial intelligence division and attempting to sell them to China.
Linwei Ding, 38, has been charged by US prosecutors with harvesting 500 Google files. He allegedly copied files relating to Google’s cutting-edge AI chips, including software that could be used as the “brain” of advanced supercomputers, say US court papers.
Mr Ding, a Chinese citizen, started working in Google’s San Francisco office in 2019 but by 2022 had allegedly started secretly copying files on to his personal computer. It is claimed that year he was hired as chief technology officer of a Chinese start-up, Rongshu, which was seeking to build AI technology.
He was paid $14,800 a month for his role at Rongshu, which he carried out without Google’s knowledge.
He later founded his own start-up called Zhisuan, spending months in China to raise money from investors while still employed at Google. Mr Ding allegedly asked Google colleagues to scan his badge at the company’s offices to make it appear as if he was in the US, when he was in fact visiting China.
However, Google security started investigating Mr Ding in December 2023 and ordered him to delete any files on his personal drives.
Days later, he resigned from Google and booked a one-way ticket to Beijing to leave on Jan 7 2024. However, Google security subsequently seized his laptop before the FBI then raided his home on Jan 6. He was arrested on Wednesday in Newark, California. Among the files he had allegedly stolen were blueprints to some of Google’s most advanced AI chips and supercomputer tools.
US officials have long warned that Chinese companies are seeking to steal Silicon Valley’s secrets. As a result, the US government has placed dozens of Chinese tech companies on sanctions lists to block them from accessing AI technology that could be used to benefit China’s military goals.
A Google spokesman said: “We are grateful to the FBI for helping protect our information.” Mr Ding faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.