A former software engineer at Google has been charged with stealing artificial intelligence technology from the company while secretly working with two companies based in China, the U.S. Justice Department said Wednesday.
Linwei Ding, a Chinese national, was arrested in Newark, Calif., on four counts of federal trade secret theft, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
The case against Ding was being announced at an American Bar Association Conference in San Francisco by Attorney General Merrick Garland, who along with other law enforcement leaders has repeatedly warned about the threat of Chinese economic espionage and about the national security concerns posed by advancements in artificial intelligence.
“Today’s charges are the latest illustration of the lengths affiliates of companies based in the People’s Republic of China are willing to go to steal American innovation,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement.
“The theft of innovative technology and trade secrets from American companies can cost jobs and have devastating economic and national security consequences.”
Ding uploaded files to personal account: indictment
U.S. Justice Department leaders in recent weeks have been sounding alarms about how foreign adversaries could harness AI technologies to negatively affect the United States.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a speech last month that the administration’s multi-agency Disruptive Technology Strike Force would place AI enforcement at the top of its priority list. Wray told business leaders at an event last week that AI and other emerging technologies had made it easier for adversaries to try to interfere with the U.S. political process.
A Federal Court judge has barred a Chinese engineering student from studying in Canada, over concerns the engineering student could be pressured by his government into spying. Experts say there could be more similar cases to come.
An indictment unsealed Wednesday in the Northern District of California alleges that Ding, who was hired by Google in 2019 and had access to confidential information about the company’s supercomputing data centres, began uploading hundreds of files into a personal Google Cloud account two years ago.
More to come.
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