Former Google Engineer Convicted on 14 Counts of Economic Espionage for Stealing AI Secrets for China
Summary
Former Google engineer Linwei Ding becomes first person convicted of AI-related economic espionage in U.S. history, facing up to 350 years in prison for stealing over 2,000 pages of confidential artificial intelligence secrets including chip architecture for China's benefit.
Key Points
- Federal jury convicts former Google engineer Linwei Ding on 14 counts of economic espionage and theft of trade secrets for stealing AI technology to benefit China
- Ding uploads over 2,000 pages of confidential Google AI information including Tensor Processing Unit chip architecture and SmartNIC details to his personal cloud account between May 2022 and April 2023
- Case marks the first conviction on AI-related economic espionage charges in U.S. history, with Ding facing potential maximum sentence of 15 years per espionage count and 10 years per theft count