what you need to know
- A former Google employee was charged today with stealing artificial intelligence technology and secretly transferring confidential documents to his personal Google account.
- Linwei Ding was charged with four federal counts of trade secret theft, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
- Google said in a statement that it discovered the employee had stolen numerous documents and immediately contacted the FBI.
A former Google employee was charged on Wednesday (March 6) with stealing Google’s artificial intelligence technology and secretly working with two Chinese companies, the Associated Press reported.
According to reports, 38-year-old Ding Linwei, a Chinese citizen, was arrested in Newark, California. Ding was charged with four federal counts of trade secret theft, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
“Today’s charges are the latest example of the lengths to which corporate affiliates of the People’s Republic of China go to steal American innovation,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement.
The indictment unsealed Wednesday alleges that Ding, who was hired by Google in 2019, had access to information in the company’s “supercomputing data centers” and began transferring all data to his personal Google Cloud two years ago.
“The theft of innovative technologies and trade secrets from American companies could cost jobs and have devastating economic and national security consequences,” Wray added.
After the theft, prosecutors alleged that Ding obtained a chief technology officer position at a start-up artificial intelligence company in China and attended the company’s investor meetings.
The report also claims that Ding founded and serves as CEO of a Chinese startup that aims to train “large-scale artificial intelligence models powered by supercomputing chips.”
“After investigation, we discovered that this employee had stolen numerous documents, and we quickly turned the case over to law enforcement,” a Google spokesperson told Android Central in a statement. “We thank the FBI for helping protect our information and We will continue to work closely with them.”
The spokesperson added that Google has “strict safeguards” in place to prevent the theft of its confidential business information and trade secrets.