A Chinese citizen who recently quit his job as a software engineer for Google in California has been charged with attempting to transfer artificial intelligence technology to a Beijing-based company that paid him secretly, according to a federal indictment unsealed on Wednesday.
Prosecutors accused Linwei Ding, a former member of Google’s A.I. supercomputer team, of stealing information about the system’s architecture and functionality, as well as software for orchestrating cutting-edge supercomputers.
From May 2022 to May 2023, Mr. Ding, also known as Leon, uploaded 500 files, many containing trade secrets, from his Google-issued laptop to the cloud using a scheme that allowed him to evade immediate detection, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of California.
Mr. Ding was arrested on Wednesday morning at his home in Newark, Calif., near Google’s main campus in Mountain View, officials said.
Starting in June 2022, Mr. Ding was paid $14,800 per month by a China-based technology company without disclosing it to Google. He was also accused of collaborating with another Chinese company.
Mr. Ding sought funding for a new A.I. start-up company he had founded, mentioning his experience with Google’s computational power platform during an investor conference in Beijing in November.
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland emphasized the seriousness of the charges, stating that the Justice Department will not tolerate the theft of advanced technologies that could jeopardize national security.
The charges highlight the intense competition for leadership in artificial intelligence between the U.S. and China. While America leads in generative A.I., China is striving to catch up by leveraging American technology.
Tech insiders estimate that China is about a year behind the U.S. in A.I., with Chinese start-ups utilizing American technologies like Meta’s Llama model to advance. Generative A.I., which powers popular technologies like ChatGPT, is highly sought after.
In seconds, advanced A.I. tools can generate realistic text and images for various purposes. Google’s breakthroughs in A.I., including the Gemini models, are considered some of the most powerful available today.
Following the debut of ChatGPT, Google faced criticism for racial biases in its image generator, prompting a pause in image creation capabilities.
Intellectual property theft has been a point of contention in U.S.-China relations, with incidents like the sale of IBM’s source code and Apple’s autonomous-driving trade secrets to China. The FBI director has described intellectual property theft from China as a significant threat to U.S. economic and national security.
Google expressed gratitude to the FBI for their assistance in protecting their information and stated that their security systems functioned as intended despite the actions of this “junior employee.”
The indictment revealed that Mr. Ding received help from another Google employee in concealing a trip to China. Details about Mr. Ding’s life, education, and work history were also provided in the indictment.
It remains unclear whether Mr. Ding has legal representation at this time.
Kitty Bennett contributed to this report.
