Former Google Engineer Found Guilty Of Economic Espionage And Theft Of Confidential AI Technology
Summary:
The Department of Justice (DOJ) published a press release yesterday, announcing the indictment of a former Google software engineer, Linwei Ding, on seven counts of economic espionage and seven counts of theft of trade secrets. Between May 2022 and April 2023, Ding stole more than 2,000 pages of confidential information containing Google’s trade secrets related to artificial intelligence technology. This information was downloaded on Ding’s personal computer, less than two weeks before he resigned from Google. According to the DOJ, Ding was secretly engaged with two People’s Republic of China (PRC)-based technology companies during his employment at Google, in an effort to pursue a CTO role. In early 2023, Ding was also in the process of founding his own technology company in the PRC focused on AI and machine learning. “In multiple statements to potential investors, Ding claimed that he could build an AI supercomputer by copying and modifying Google’s technology,” states the DOJ in its press release.
Security Officer Comments:
The data stolen by Ding related to the hardware infrastructure and software platforms that allow Google’s supercomputing data center to train and serve large AI models, including custom Tensor Processing Unit chips and systems, Google’s Graphics Processing Unit systems, interconnect software, as well as Google’s custom-designed SmartNIC, a network interface card used to facilitate high speed communication within Google’s AI supercomputers and cloud networking products.
Ding’s intent was clear. With this information at hand, he could help the PRC in developing AI supercomputing and custom machine learning chips without investing years of costly research and experimentation. According to the DOJ, Ding applied for a Shanghai government-sponsored talent program. In his application, Ding stated that he planned to “help China to have computing power infrastructure capabilities that are on par with the international level.” This evidence further solidified the jury’s conclusion that Ding stole the data for the benefit of the PRC.
Link(s):
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/p...-economic-espionage-and-theft-confidential-ai
The Department of Justice (DOJ) published a press release yesterday, announcing the indictment of a former Google software engineer, Linwei Ding, on seven counts of economic espionage and seven counts of theft of trade secrets. Between May 2022 and April 2023, Ding stole more than 2,000 pages of confidential information containing Google’s trade secrets related to artificial intelligence technology. This information was downloaded on Ding’s personal computer, less than two weeks before he resigned from Google. According to the DOJ, Ding was secretly engaged with two People’s Republic of China (PRC)-based technology companies during his employment at Google, in an effort to pursue a CTO role. In early 2023, Ding was also in the process of founding his own technology company in the PRC focused on AI and machine learning. “In multiple statements to potential investors, Ding claimed that he could build an AI supercomputer by copying and modifying Google’s technology,” states the DOJ in its press release.
Security Officer Comments:
The data stolen by Ding related to the hardware infrastructure and software platforms that allow Google’s supercomputing data center to train and serve large AI models, including custom Tensor Processing Unit chips and systems, Google’s Graphics Processing Unit systems, interconnect software, as well as Google’s custom-designed SmartNIC, a network interface card used to facilitate high speed communication within Google’s AI supercomputers and cloud networking products.
Ding’s intent was clear. With this information at hand, he could help the PRC in developing AI supercomputing and custom machine learning chips without investing years of costly research and experimentation. According to the DOJ, Ding applied for a Shanghai government-sponsored talent program. In his application, Ding stated that he planned to “help China to have computing power infrastructure capabilities that are on par with the international level.” This evidence further solidified the jury’s conclusion that Ding stole the data for the benefit of the PRC.
Link(s):
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/p...-economic-espionage-and-theft-confidential-ai