Espionage in Silicon Valley
A Google employee reportedly sold AI research to China
March 7, 2024, 10:35 am
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A software engineer hired by Google has access to important AI research data. He is said to have stolen it and sold it to a Chinese company. Then he resigned. He was discovered by Google executives when he appeared at a conference as CEO of another company.
A former Google software developer is said to have stolen confidential data from the internet company's artificial intelligence projects and secretly worked for Chinese companies. This was announced by the US Department of Justice. The suspect was arrested in Newark, California. He is charged with four counts of theft of trade secrets at the federal level. He faces up to ten years in prison for each individual charge.
The responsible judicial district of California has initiated criminal proceedings against the 38-year-old Chinese man. According to the indictment, Google hired him in 2019. He had access to confidential information about the company's high-performance data centers. Two years ago, he reportedly began uploading hundreds of files to a private Google Cloud account.
She added that a few weeks after the alleged theft began, the software developer was offered a position as CTO at a technology company still being established in his native China. His monthly salary was about 14,800 US dollars (about 13,600 euros), and he was also offered an annual bonus and shares in the company. This company announced its use of artificial intelligence technology. According to the indictment, the suspect traveled to China, attended investor meetings and attempted to raise capital for the company.
I started my own company in China
He also founded a startup company based in China and served as its managing director. The indictment said his company sought to build “large-scale AI models” that would be “powered by high-performance chips.” He did not disclose his side activities to Google. At the end of December, the suspect resigned from the internet giant.
Three days later, Google executives reportedly discovered him when they learned that the man had appeared as CEO of a Chinese company at an investor conference in Beijing. A review of surveillance footage revealed that another Google employee scanned the 38-year-old's access card at his workplace, the indictment said. He was supposed to appear as if he was at work when he was actually in China.
“Today’s charges are the latest example of how willing affiliates of companies based in the People’s Republic of China are to steal American innovation,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said. “The theft of innovative technology and trade secrets from American companies could cost jobs and have devastating economic and national security consequences.”
Jose Castañeda, a Google spokesman, said the defendant “stole many documents.” “We are grateful to the FBI for their assistance in protecting our information.” Google will continue to work closely with investigators.
