Former Google software engineer accused of stealing AI trade secrets for Chinese companies

A former Google software engineer has been accused of stealing artificial intelligence trade secrets from the tech giant and passing them on to Chinese companies.

Linwei Ding, also known as Leon Ding, was indicted Tuesday on four counts of theft of trade secrets by a federal jury in San Francisco.

The Chinese national was arrested in Newark, California, on Wednesday and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on each count if convicted.

The stolen information was related to the hardware infrastructure and software platform that allows Google’s supercomputing data centers to train large AI models through machine learning, according to the indictment.

The trade secrets contain detailed information about the architecture and functionality of chips and systems, and software that helps power a supercomputer “capable of running at the cutting edge of machine learning and artificial intelligence technology,” it reads.

Ding allegedly transferred sensitive information from Google’s network to his personal email and cloud accounts while secretly affiliated with two China-based companies working in the artificial intelligence industry, according to the Department of Justice.

Ding did not disclose his Google connection to any of the companies, one of which he allegedly helped form.

“We have strict security measures in place to prevent the theft of our confidential business information and trade secrets,” a Google spokesperson told DailyMail.com.

‘After an investigation, we discovered that this employee had stolen numerous documents and we quickly referred the case to the authorities.

Adding: “We thank the FBI for helping us protect our information and will continue to cooperate closely with them.”

Google is confident that the incident was the work of a junior employee acting alone and is not part of a broader problem at the company.

The company emphasized that the case demonstrates that its security systems worked as intended.

“We believe strongly in protecting our trade secrets and have taken legal action in the past,” a spokesperson explained.