Home / Crime and Justice / Ex-Google AI Engineer Found Guilty of Espionage
Ex-Google AI Engineer Found Guilty of Espionage
30 Jan
Summary
- Former Google engineer Linwei Ding convicted of 14 charges.
- Ding stole confidential AI trade secrets for Chinese firms.
- Conviction includes economic espionage and trade secret theft.
A federal jury has convicted Linwei Ding, a former software engineer at Google, of stealing advanced AI trade secrets. The conviction, announced Thursday, includes 14 charges encompassing economic espionage and theft of trade secrets. Ding, 38, was found guilty after an 11-day trial.
Prosecutors presented evidence that Ding illicitly acquired thousands of pages of confidential data concerning Google's AI hardware and software infrastructure. This information was crucial for training large AI models and aimed to give Google an edge over competitors. Ding began his thefts in 2022 while being courted by a Chinese technology firm.
Each economic espionage charge carries a maximum 15-year prison term and a $5 million fine, while trade secret charges have a maximum 10-year sentence and $250,000 fine. Ding is scheduled for a status conference on February 3. Google, which was not charged, has stated its cooperation with law enforcement.
