WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has announced that a former Google software engineer has been indicted for allegedly pilfering artificial intelligence (AI) technology from the tech giant. The engineer, Linwei Ding, is accused of collaborating covertly with two Chinese firms while committing the theft.
Ding, a Chinese national, was apprehended in Newark, California, and is facing four charges of federal trade secret theft. Each charge carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
The announcement of the case against Ding was made at the American Bar Association Conference in San Francisco. Attorney General Merrick Garland, along with other law enforcement leaders, used the opportunity to reiterate their concerns about the risks of Chinese economic espionage and the national security implications of advancements in AI.
“The charges brought today serve as a stark reminder of the lengths to which affiliates of companies based in the People’s Republic of China will go to misappropriate American innovation,” FBI Director Christopher Wray stated. He further emphasized that the theft of innovative technology and trade secrets from American companies can lead to job losses and have severe economic and national security repercussions.
Leaders of the Justice Department have been increasingly vocal in recent weeks about the potential for foreign adversaries to exploit AI technologies to the detriment of the United States.
Last month, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco highlighted in a speech that the administration’s multi-agency Disruptive Technology Strike Force would prioritize AI enforcement. Similarly, Wray cautioned business leaders at a recent event that AI and other emerging technologies have made it easier for adversaries to attempt to meddle with the American political process.
An indictment unsealed on Wednesday in the Northern District of California alleges that Ding, who joined Google in 2019 and had access to confidential information about the company’s supercomputing data centers, started uploading hundreds of files to a personal Google Cloud account two years ago.
Prosecutors claim that within weeks of the alleged theft, Ding was offered the role of chief technology officer at a nascent technology company in China that boasted about its use of AI technology. The indictment further alleges that Ding traveled to China to participate in investor meetings at the company and sought to raise capital for it.
In addition to this, Ding is said to have independently established and served as the CEO of a startup company in China that aimed to train “large AI models powered by supercomputing chips,” according to the indictment.
Prosecutors allege that Ding failed to disclose either of these affiliations to Google.
Ding resigned from Google on Dec. 26. Three days later, Google officials discovered that he had presented himself as the CEO of one of the Chinese companies at an investor conference in Beijing. Officials also found surveillance footage showing that another employee had scanned Ding’s access badge at his workplace to create the illusion that Ding was present when he was actually in China, the indictment alleges.
As of now, it remains unclear whether Ding, 38, has legal representation who can comment on his behalf.
Good punctuation and grammar, agree: It is important to protect intellectual property and prevent theft of technology.
Good punctuation and grammar, agree: It is crucial to crack down on theft of technology, especially when it involves collaboration with foreign entities.