www.npr.org Open in urlscan Pro
2600:141b:1c00:23::1730:e045  Public Scan

Form analysis
1 forms found in the DOM

Name: rbuForm —

<form class="reasons-form" name="rbuForm" id="rbuForm">
  <div class="reasons-list" id="reasonsList"></div>
  <div class="form-action">
    <input type="submit" value="Report" class="submit" id="reportButton" disabled="">
  </div>
</form>

Text Content

Accessibility links
 * Skip to main content
 * Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Play Live Radio
 * Hourly News
 * Listen Live
 * Playlist

 * Open Navigation Menu
 * 
 * 
 * Newsletters
 * Sign In
 * NPR Shop
 * Donate

Close Navigation Menu
 * Home
 * News Expand/collapse submenu for News
   * National
   * World
   * Politics
   * Business
   * Health
   * Science
   * Climate
   * Race
 * Culture Expand/collapse submenu for Culture
   * Books
   * Movies
   * Television
   * Pop Culture
   * Food
   * Art & Design
   * Performing Arts
   * Life Kit
   * Gaming
 * Music Expand/collapse submenu for Music
   * Tiny Desk
   * Hip-Hop 50
   * All Songs Considered
   * Music Features
   * Live Sessions
 * Podcasts & Shows Expand/collapse submenu for Podcasts & Shows
   Daily
    * Morning Edition
    * Weekend Edition Saturday
    * Weekend Edition Sunday
    * All Things Considered
    * Fresh Air
    * Up First
   
   Featured
    * The NPR Politics Podcast
    * Throughline
    * Trump's Trials
    * Pop Culture Happy Hour
   
    * More Podcasts & Shows

 * Search
 * Newsletters
 * Sign In
 * NPR Shop

 * 
 * Tiny Desk
 * Hip-Hop 50
 * All Songs Considered
 * Music Features
 * Live Sessions

 * About NPR
 * Diversity
 * Organization
 * NPR Network
 * Support
 * Careers
 * Connect
 * Press
 * Ethics

Chinese national arrested and charged with stealing AI trade secrets from Google
Prosecutors say at the same time that Linwei Ding was working for Google and
stealing the building blocks of its AI technology, he was also secretly employed
by two China-based tech companies.


NATIONAL SECURITY


CHINESE NATIONAL ARRESTED AND CHARGED WITH STEALING AI TRADE SECRETS FROM GOOGLE

March 6, 20244:08 PM ET

Ryan Lucas

Enlarge this image

A former Google engineer was charged with stealing AI technology while secretly
working with two China-based companies. Carl Court/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Carl Court/Getty Images


A former Google engineer was charged with stealing AI technology while secretly
working with two China-based companies.

Carl Court/Getty Images

A Chinese national who allegedly stole more than 500 files from Google with
confidential information on the company's AI technology has been arrested and
charged with stealing trade secrets, according to the Justice Department.

The defendant, former Google employee Linwei Ding, was arrested Wednesday
morning in Newark, Calif. The 38-year-old faces four counts of theft of trade
secrets. Prosecutors say at the same time that Ding was working for Google and
stealing the building blocks of its AI technology, he was also secretly employed
by two China-based tech companies.

"The Justice Department will not tolerate the theft of artificial intelligence
and other advanced technologies that could put our national security at risk,"
Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. "We will fiercely protect
sensitive technologies developed in America from falling into the hands of those
who should not have them."

Sponsor Message



The case is latest example of what American officials say is a relentless
campaign by China to try to steal U.S. trade secrets, technology and
intellectual property. Officials say China aims to use those stolen secrets to
supplant the U.S. as the world's leading power.

"Today's charges are the latest illustration of the lengths affiliates of
companies based in the People's Republic of China are willing to go to steal
American innovation," said FBI Director Christopher Wray. "The theft of
innovative technology and trade secrets from American companies can cost jobs
and have devastating economic and national security consequences."

The U.S. is the global leader in AI, an emerging technology that could reshape
many facets of modern life.

AI also could become an indispensable tool to help law enforcement protect
public safety. But Justice Department officials also have warned of the
potential dangers that AI poses to national security if it falls into the hands
of criminals or hostile nation states.

The department has also formed a unit to protect advanced American technology
such as AI from being pilfered by foreign adversaries.

In Ding's case, the indictment says the trade secrets he allegedly stole are
related to "the hardware infrastructure and software platform that allow
Google's supercomputing data centers to train large AI models through machine
learning."



Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said the company has "strict safeguards to
prevent theft of our confidential commercial information and trade secrets."

"After an investigation, we found that this employee stole numerous documents,
and we quickly referred the case to law enforcement," Castaneda said. "We are
grateful to the FBI for helping protect our information and will continue
cooperating with them closely."

The indictment says Ding was hired at Google as a software engineer in 2019. His
work focused on the development of software related to machine learning and AI
applications, according to prosecutors.

In May of 2022, Ding allegedly began uploading confidential information—more
than 500 unique files in all—from Google's network into a personal Google Cloud
account.

Prosecutors say Ding tried to hide what he was doing by copying the stolen files
first into the Apple Notes application on his laptop, converting them into PDF
files and uploading those into his personal Cloud account.

Less than a month later, court papers say, Ding received emails from the head of
a Chinese technology company, Beijing Rongshu Lianzhi Technology, with an offer
to be the company's chief technology officer.

Ding allegedly traveled to China to help raise money for the company, which
worked on AI, and was announced as the company's CTO. A year later, Ding also
allegedly founded his own technology company, Zhisuan, that also focused on AI
and machine learning.

Prosecutors say Ding never informed Google of his ties to either Chinese
company, and continued to be employed by Google.

Then in December 2023, court papers say, Google detected Ding trying to upload
more files from the company's network to his personal account while he was in
China. Ding allegedly told the company's investigator that he'd uploaded the
files as evidence of his work for Google.

A week after being interviewed by the investigator, Ding allegedly booked a
one-way ticket to Beijing. He then sent his resignation letter to Google.
Shortly after that, the company learned of Ding's role with Zhisuan. Google then
suspended his access to the company's networks.



Shortly after that, the FBI began its investigation.

 * trade secrets
 * ai
 * China
 * Justice Department
 * Google

 * Facebook
 * Flipboard
 * Email






MORE STORIES FROM NPR

NATIONAL SECURITY

BIDEN TO ANNOUNCE THE SETTING UP OF A TEMPORARY MEDITERRANEAN PORT TO DELIVER
GAZA AID

NATIONAL SECURITY

AIR FORCE EMPLOYEE ACCUSED OF SHARING CLASSIFIED INFO ON A DATING WEBSITE

NATIONAL SECURITY

MORE U.S. AID AIRDROPPED INTO GAZA

NATIONAL SECURITY

JACK TEIXEIRA EXPECTED TO PLEAD GUILTY IN DOCUMENTS LEAK CASE

NATIONAL SECURITY

LEAKED DOCUMENT TROVE SHOWS A CHINESE HACKING SCHEME FOCUSED ON HARASSING
DISSIDENTS

MIDDLE EAST

WHAT FIGHTING IN THE MIDDLE EAST MEANS FOR THE U.S. TROOP PRESENCE IN IRAQ


POPULAR ON NPR.ORG

SCIENCE

SCIENTISTS TAKE A STEP CLOSER TO RESURRECTING THE WOOLLY MAMMOTH

CULTURE

'RUST' FILM ARMORER FOUND GUILTY IN DEATH OF CINEMATOGRAPHER

ASIA

TAYLOR SWIFT'S SINGAPORE LEG SPURS BAD BLOOD IN SE ASIA. NEIGHBORS CAN'T SHAKE
IT OFF

TECHNOLOGY

HOW THE PORN BOTS TOOK OVER TWITTER

MOVIES

WARNER BROS. SHELVED 'COYOTE VS. ACME.' HERE'S WHY SOME FINISHED FILMS ARE
MOTHBALLED

LATIN AMERICA

GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ'S LAST NOVEL IS PUBLISHED AGAINST HIS WISHES


NPR EDITORS' PICKS

NATIONAL

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE POLITICAL DEBATE AROUND DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME

NATIONAL

GEORGE SANTOS, EJECTED FROM HOUSE AND FACING FRAUD TRIAL, WILL RUN AGAIN IN N.Y.

SCIENCE

FOR APRIL'S ECLIPSE, GOING FROM 'MEH' TO 'OMG' MIGHT MEAN JUST DRIVING ACROSS
TOWN

GLOBAL HEALTH

AN ISRAELI RESPONDER'S WORK ON OCT. 7 SHOWS THE CHALLENGES OF INVESTIGATING
ATROCITIES

MOVIES

WHAT TO EXPECT AT THE OSCARS: THE BOMB, THE BOMBSHELL, AND THE POSSIBLE COMEBACK

HEALTH

5 TIPS TO HELP YOU RESET AFTER THE TIME CHANGE



READ & LISTEN

 * Home
 * News
 * Culture
 * Music
 * Podcasts & Shows

CONNECT

 * Newsletters
 * Facebook
 * Instagram
 * Press
 * Public Editor
 * Corrections
 * Contact & Help

ABOUT NPR

 * Overview
 * Diversity
 * NPR Network
 * Accessibility
 * Ethics
 * Finances

GET INVOLVED

 * Support Public Radio
 * Sponsor NPR
 * NPR Careers
 * NPR Shop
 * NPR Events
 * NPR Extra

 * Terms of Use
 * Privacy
 * Your Privacy Choices
 * Text Only
 * © 2024 npr




Sponsor Message

Become an NPR sponsor





COOKIE SETTINGS

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect
information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or
your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to
provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow
certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the
services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find
out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You may
opt out of the sharing of your information with our sponsorship vendors for
delivery of personalized sponsorship credits and marketing messages on our
website or third-party sites by turning off "Share Data for Targeted
Sponsorship" below. If you opt out, our service providers or vendors may
continue to serve you non-personalized, non-"interest-based" sponsorship credits
and marketing messages on our website or third-party sites, and those
sponsorship credits and marketing message may come with cookies that are used to
control how often you encounter those credits and messages, to prevent fraud,
and to do aggregate reporting. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly
Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning
of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your
settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For
more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this
link.
Allow All


MANAGE CONSENT PREFERENCES

STRICTLY NECESSARY OR ESSENTIAL COOKIES

Always Active

These cookies are essential to provide you with services available through the
NPR Services and to enable you to use some of their features. For example, these
cookies allow NPR to remember your registration information while you are logged
in. Local station customization, the NPR Shop, and other interactive features
also use cookies. Without these cookies, the services that you have asked for
cannot be provided, and we only use these cookies to provide you with those
services.

SHARE DATA FOR TARGETED SPONSORSHIP

Share Data for Targeted Sponsorship

You may opt out of the sharing of your information with our sponsorship vendors
for delivery of personalized sponsorship credits and marketing messages on our
website or third-party sites by turning off "Share Data for Targeted
Sponsorship." If you opt out, our service providers or vendors may continue to
serve you non-personalized, non-"interest-based" sponsorship credits and
marketing messages on our website or third-party sites, and those sponsorship
credits and marketing message may come with cookies that are used to control how
often you encounter those credits and messages, to prevent fraud, and to do
aggregate reporting.

 * PERFORMANCE AND ANALYTICS COOKIES
   
   Switch Label
   
   These cookies are used to collect information about traffic to our Services
   and how users interact with the NPR Services. The information collected
   includes the number of visitors to the NPR Services, the websites that
   referred visitors to the NPR Services, the pages that they visited on the NPR
   Services, what time of day they visited the NPR Services, whether they have
   visited the NPR Services before, and other similar information. We use this
   information to help operate the NPR Services more efficiently, to gather
   broad demographic information and to monitor the level of activity on the NPR
   Services.

 * FUNCTIONAL COOKIES
   
   Switch Label
   
   These cookies allow our Services to remember choices you make when you use
   them, such as remembering your Member station preferences and remembering
   your account details. The purpose of these cookies is to provide you with a
   more personal experience and to prevent you from having to re-enter your
   preferences every time you visit the NPR Services.

 * TARGETING AND SPONSOR COOKIES
   
   Switch Label
   
   These cookies track your browsing habits or other information, such as
   location, to enable us to show sponsorship credits which are more likely to
   be of interest to you. These cookies use information about your browsing
   history to group you with other users who have similar interests. Based on
   that information, and with our permission, we and our sponsors can place
   cookies to enable us or our sponsors to show sponsorship credits and other
   messages that we think will be relevant to your interests while you are using
   third-party services.

Back Button


COOKIE LIST



Search Icon
Filter Icon

Clear
checkbox label label
Apply Cancel
Consent Leg.Interest
checkbox label label
checkbox label label
checkbox label label

Confirm My Choices



THANKS FOR REPORTING THIS AD


Secured By