Former Google software engineer indicted for stealing AI trade secrets for Chinese companies

A former Google software engineer has been indicted on charges of stealing AI trade secrets from the tech giant and passing them on to Chinese companies. 

Linwei Ding, who also goes by Leon Ding, was charged with four counts of theft of trade secrets by a federal jury in San Francisco on Tuesday. 

The Chinese national, 38, was arrested in Newark, California on Wednesday and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for each count if convicted.  

The stolen information related to the hardware infrastructure and software platform that lets Google's supercomputing data centers train large AI models through machine learning, according to the indictment. 

The trade secrets contain detailed information about the architecture and functionality of chips and systems, and software that helps power a supercomputer 'capable of executing at the cutting edge of machine learning and AI technology,'  it read. 

A former Google software engineer has been indicted on charges of stealing AI trade secrets. The software giant's Bay Area HQ is pictured 

Ding allegedly transferred sensitive information from Google’s network to his personal email and cloud accounts while secretly affiliating himself with two China-based companies working in the AI industry, according to the Justice Department.

Ding did not disclose his connection to either company, one of which he allegedly helped form, to Google.

'We have strict safeguards to prevent the theft of our confidential commercial information and trade secrets' a spokesperson for Google told DailyMail.com. 

'After an investigation, we found that this employee stole numerous documents, and we quickly referred the case to law enforcement. 

Ding is accused of passing secrets to China, whose President Xi Jinping is pictured 

Adding: 'We are grateful to the FBI for helping protect our information and will continue cooperating with them closely.' 

Google is confident the incident was one junior employee acting alone and is not part of a wider issue at the company. 

The company emphasized that the case shows its security systems worked as intended. 

'We believe strongly in protecting our trade secrets and have taken legal action in the past' a spokesperson explained. 

Ding's case marks the first significant enforcement since Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced that the Justice Department’s disruptive technology strike force would focus on AI-related violations last month.