Former Google engineer found guilty of stealing AI secrets for Chinese firms

A former Google engineer, Linwei Ding (also known as Leon Ding), has been convicted on seven counts of economic espionage and seven counts of theft of trade secrets for stealing the tech giant’s AI technology to benefit Chinese companies where he secretly worked.
Ding was found to have stolen over 2,000 pages of confidential Google AI trade secrets between May 2022 and April 2023 and uploaded this information to his personal Google Cloud account.
He affiliated himself with two Chinese-based technology companies and was in the process of founding his own AI and machine learning company in China around June 2022.
Prosecutors revealed that Ding planned to use Google’s stolen technology to build an AI supercomputer, and he downloaded the trade secrets to his personal computer before resigning from Google and flying to Beijing.
In January 2024, the FBI executed a search warrant at Ding’s home and he was arrested two months later.
U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian emphasized that “Silicon Valley is at the forefront of artificial intelligence innovation” and that theft of such advanced technology will not go unpunished.
FBI Special Agent Sanjay Virmani highlighted the threat such technology theft poses to the U.S. technological edge and economic competitiveness.
Ding 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.

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