Former Google Engineer Charged with Stealing Artificial Intelligence Technology for Beijing Company
A former software engineer for Google in California has been charged with attempting to transfer artificial intelligence technology to a Beijing-based company in exchange for secret payments, according to a federal indictment unsealed on Wednesday.
Linwei Ding, also known as Leon, was part of the team responsible for designing and maintaining Google’s A.I. supercomputer data system. Prosecutors allege that he stole information about the system’s architecture and functionality, as well as software used to orchestrate supercomputers at the forefront of machine learning and A.I. technology.
From May 2022 to May 2023, Mr. Ding uploaded 500 files containing trade secrets from his Google-issued laptop to the cloud using a multistep scheme to evade detection. He was paid $14,800 per month by a China-based technology company starting in June 2022, without disclosing this information to his supervisors at Google.
Mr. Ding openly sought funding for a new A.I. start-up company at an investor conference in Beijing, boasting about his experience with Google’s computational power platform. The U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of California arrested Mr. Ding at his home in Newark, Calif., not far from Google’s main campus in Mountain View.
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland emphasized the importance of protecting advanced technologies like A.I., stating that the Justice Department will not tolerate theft that could jeopardize national security.
The charges highlight the intense competition between the U.S. and China in the field of artificial intelligence. While American companies have led in generative A.I., China has made it a strategic priority to catch up and even surpass the U.S. in this area.
Google’s latest A.I. models, named Gemini, are among the most powerful available today, but the company has faced criticism for racial biases in its image generator. Intellectual property theft has been a longstanding issue in U.S.-China relations, with several high-profile cases in recent years.
Google has strict safeguards in place to prevent the theft of confidential information and trade secrets, and the company quickly referred Mr. Ding’s case to law enforcement. It is unclear if Mr. Ding has legal representation at this time.
The government provided limited details about Mr. Ding’s background, noting his education at the Dalian Institute of Technology in China and degrees from the University of Southern California and Stanford. His LinkedIn page lists previous work experience at software semiconductor and health care companies, as well as awards earned at Google.
The case underscores the importance of safeguarding intellectual property and the challenges posed by the global competition for advanced technologies like artificial intelligence.
