- A Google employee has been accused by the Justice Department of stealing sensitive AI technology.
- Officials said Linwei Ding, who was arrested on Wednesday, shared information with Chinese companies.
- The Justice Department also said he ran a startup company based in China while employed as a software engineer at Google.
A Google employee indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice is accused of stealing sensitive AI technology while working undercover for a Chinese tech company.
In an indictment released by the Department of Justice on Wednesday, Linwei Ding, also known as Leung Ding, is charged with four counts of theft of trade secrets. He was arrested Wednesday morning in Newark, California, about 14 miles northeast of Google's Silicon Valley headquarters, authorities said.
According to the indictment, Ding, 38, stole more than 500 files detailing Google's information about its AI data center hardware and software, the building blocks of the powerful AI models now sweeping the world. It is said that
Ding did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider via email. Information on Mr. Ding's attorney is not available at this time.
Prosecutors allege in the indictment that he secretly founded a startup in China without Google's knowledge, and that he asked colleagues to visit Google's offices in the U.S. to prevent the company from discovering that he was secretly working in China. He also said that he once had a badge put on him. .
Google's Jose Castañeda told Business Insider: “We have strict safeguards in place to prevent the theft of commercially sensitive information and trade secrets. Our investigation revealed that this employee stole numerous documents. We immediately reported the incident to law enforcement.” “We are grateful to the FBI for helping us protect our information, and we will continue to work closely with them.”
Castañeda also said the incident involved one junior employee and was not a widespread problem within the company.
Ding, a Newark resident and Chinese citizen, joined Google in 2019 as a software engineer, according to the indictment. His work included developing software used in Google's supercomputing data centers.
“Ding's job responsibilities gave him access to Google's confidential information related to its hardware infrastructure, software platforms, and the AI models and applications they support,” the indictment states. has been done.
According to the indictment, Ding began secretly uploading confidential Google information to his Google Cloud account in May 2022.
Federal prosecutors said emails from June 2022 showed the CEO of a China-based technology company offered Ding the role of CTO at a monthly salary of $14,800. According to the indictment, Ding traveled to China from October 2022 to March 2023 to attend fundraising meetings for the technology company.
By May 2023, Ding had founded his own China-based technology startup in the AI field and served as acting CEO, according to the indictment.
In November 2023, Ding pitched his company at an investor conference, and a company document said: “We have experience with Google's 10,000-card compute power platform. We just need to replicate and upgrade it. And then it's just a matter of further development.” “It was a computing power platform suited to China's national circumstances,” the indictment states.
If convicted, Ding could face a $250,000 fine and up to 10 years in prison for each charge.
“The Department of Justice will not tolerate the theft of artificial intelligence or other advanced technologies that could endanger national security,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement regarding the indictment.
On February 28, Axel Springer, the parent company of Business Insider, joined 31 other media groups in filing a $2.3 billion lawsuit against Google in Dutch court, alleging losses caused by the company's advertising practices. Ta.
