Ex-Google engineer found guilty of stealing AI secrets for China
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A former Google engineer was found guilty of economic espionage and theft of confidential AI technology for the benefit of China's government, the FBI said Monday.
Why it matters: Intelligence and defense officials have long warned of increased efforts by Beijing and others to obtain U.S. intellectual property and use AI against American interests.
State of play: A federal jury in San Francisco convicted Linwei Ding, also known as Leon Ding, 38, of seven counts of economic espionage and seven counts of theft of trade secrets, per an FBI post on X Monday.
- Ding was accused of stealing thousands of pages of confidential information containing Google's trade secrets related to artificial intelligence technology and sharing them with two Chinese tech firms.
- A jury found him guilty of taking more than 2,000 pages of that material from Google's network and uploading it to his personal Google Cloud account while working for the company between May 2022 and April 2023.
Zoom in: Prosecutors accused him of being in talks for a chief technology officer role at a Chinese AI startup within weeks of the beginning of the thefts.
- Ding was in the process of founding his own technology company in China in early 2023 that was focused on AI and machine learning and was acting as the company's CEO, per a Department of Justice statement.
- "In multiple statements to potential investors, Ding claimed that he could build an AI supercomputer by copying and modifying Google's technology," according to the DOJ.
- "In December 2023, less than two weeks before he resigned from Google, Ding downloaded the stolen Google trade secrets to his own personal computer."
Thought bubble, via Axios' Sam Sabin: We can expect to see similar cases as the competition heats up between the U.S. and China to dominate AI — just like what happened previously with semiconductor developers.
What they're saying: "Silicon Valley is at the forefront of artificial intelligence innovation, pioneering transformative work that drives economic growth and strengthens our national security," said U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian in a statement.
- The jury "delivered a clear message" that the "theft of this valuable technology will not go unpunished," Missakian added.
- "We will vigorously protect American intellectual capital from foreign interests that seek to gain an unfair competitive advantage while putting our national security at risk."
- Lee-Anne Mulholland, vice president of regulatory affairs at Google, said in an emailed statement Monday night, "We're grateful to the jury for making sure justice was served today, sending a clear message that stealing trade secrets has serious consequences."
For the record: Ding was originally indicted in March 2024 before a superseding indictment was returned last year on the charges Ding was convicted of.
- He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for each count of theft of trade secrets and 15 years for each count of economic espionage.
Go deeper: Insider threats are AI developers next hurdle
Editor's note: This article has been updated with comment from Google's Lee-Anne Mulholland and with further context.
