Google's former software engineer Linwei Ding charged with AI trade secrets theft
Linwei Ding had stepped down from his position at Google on December 26, 2023. Three days after his resignation, the officials at Google had learnt that he had presented himself as the chief executive officer (CEO) at one of the Chinese companies at an investor conference in Beijing, China.
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Linwei Ding, former software engineer at tech giant Google, has been charged with stealing artificial intelligence (AI) trade secrets from Google. Ding was secretly working with two companies based out of China.
Ding was arrested in Newark, California, on four counts of Federal trade secret theft. Each is punishable up to 10 years of imprisonment, stated an ET report.
The tech giant had asserted that Ding had stolen numerous documents, and has referred the matter to the law enforcement. The case against Google’s former employee was raised at the American Bar Association conference in San Francisco, where the law enforcement leaders stressed on the threat of economic espionage, and the other national security concerns, posed by advancements in AI and other upcoming technologies, highlighted the report.
Ding had stepped down from his position at Google on December 26, 2023. Three days after his resignation, the officials at Google had learnt that he had presented himself as the chief executive officer (CEO) at one of the Chinese companies at an investor conference in Beijing, China.
The officials also reviewed surveillance footage where it was revealed that another employee had scanned Ding’s access badge at the Google office in US in order to make it look that he was in attendance when he was actually in China, revealed the report.
While searching his network activity history, the tech company suspended his network access, locked his laptop, and discovered unauthorised uploads.
In January 2024, FBI served a search warrant at Ding's home and seized his electronic devices. Later, they executed an additional warrant for the contents of his personal accounts that contained more than 500 unique files of confidential information that authorities say he stole from Google, highlighted the ET report.
