Linwei Ding, a 38-year-old Chinese national, was apprehended in Newark, New Jersey and subsequently charged with four counts of theft of trade secrets
A former Google engineer has been arrested after allegedly stealing information about artificial intelligence-related technology while secretly working for Chinese companies.
Linwei Ding, a 38-year-old Chinese national, was apprehended in Newark, New Jersey and subsequently charged with four counts of theft of trade secrets. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison and be ordered to pay a fine of up to $250,000 for each count.
According to the Department of Justice, Ding allegedly "transferred sensitive Google trade secrets and other confidential information from Google’s network to his personal account while secretly affiliating himself with PRC-based companies in the AI industry."
The information he is accused of having stolen relates to "building blocks of Google's advanced supercomputing data centers, which are designed to support machine learning workloads used to train and host large AI models."
"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. "The theft of innovative technology and trade secrets from American companies can cost jobs and have devastating economic and national security consequences."
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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