Google engineer charged with stealing AI secrets while working for Chinese groups


Prosecutors say man had access to the ‘building blocks’ of company’s cutting-edge technology. 6park.com
起诉书称，丁某在谷歌任职期间秘密为中国的竞争对手公司工作，其涉嫌窃取的技术涉及谷歌人工智能基础设施的“构件”。



A Chinese man who worked as a software engineer at Google in California has been charged by the US justice department with stealing artificial intelligence trade secrets from the technology giant while covertly working for rival China-based companies. 6park.com
美国司法部对一名曾在加州担任谷歌(Google)软件工程师的中国男子提起诉讼，指控其从这家科技巨头窃取人工智能商业机密，并且在谷歌任职期间秘密为中国的竞争对手公司工作。 6park.com
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Linwei Ding, a 38-year-old Chinese national, was hired by Google in 2019 to work on the software used in its supercomputing data centres. The indictment, which was unsealed in a California federal court on Wednesday, alleged that Ding “began secretly uploading trade secrets that were stored in Google’s network” between May 2022 and May 2023, “by which time Ding allegedly uploaded more than 500 unique files containing confidential information”. 6park.com
38岁的中国籍男子丁林威（音译，以下称“丁某”）于2019年获谷歌聘用，负责用于谷歌超级计算数据中心的软件。加州一联邦法院周三解封的起诉书称，丁某在2022年5月至2023年5月期间“开始秘密上传存储在谷歌网络中的商业机密”，“截至（2023年5月），丁某据称上传了500多个包含机密信息的不同文件”。 6park.com
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The technology Ding allegedly stole involved the “building blocks” of Google’s AI infrastructure, the indictment said. As an employee, Ding had been granted access to Google’s “confidential information related to the hardware infrastructure, the software platform and the AI models and applications they supported”, according to a press release announcing the indictment. 6park.com
起诉书称，丁某涉嫌窃取的技术涉及谷歌人工智能基础设施的“构件”。根据一份宣布该起诉的新闻稿，丁某作为谷歌员工获得了权限，可访问谷歌“与硬件基础设施、软件平台以及它们支持的人工智能模型和应用相关的机密信息”。 6park.com
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Ding was arrested on Wednesday in Newark, California, and charged with four counts of theft of trade secrets. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for each count if convicted. 6park.com
丁某于周三在加州纽瓦克被捕，并被控4项盗窃商业机密罪。如果罪名成立，他将因每项罪名面临最高10年监禁和最高25万美元的罚款。 6park.com
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“We have strict safeguards to prevent the theft of our confidential commercial information and trade secrets,” Google said in a statement. “After an investigation, we found that this employee stole numerous documents, and we quickly referred the case to law enforcement. We are grateful to the FBI for helping protect our information and will continue co-operating with them closely.” 6park.com
“我们有严格的保障措施来防止我们的保密商业信息和商业机密被窃取。”谷歌在一份声明中表示，“经过调查，我们发现这名员工窃取了大量文件，我们迅速将此案移交给执法部门。我们感谢联邦调查局(FBI)帮助保护我们的信息，并将继续与他们密切合作。” 6park.com
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Google is among the Big Tech groups investing tens billions of dollars to develop generative AI products that have the potential to transform technology and other industries. An arms race for AI dominance kicked off last year when Microsoft invested $10bn in OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. 6park.com
谷歌是投资数百亿美元开发生成式人工智能产品的大型科技集团之一，这些产品有可能彻底改变科技行业和其他行业。去年，微软(Microsoft)向开发了ChatGPT的OpenAI投资100亿美元，由此打响了一场争夺人工智能主导地位的“军备竞赛”。 6park.com
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The case comes as tensions have increased over Silicon Valley’s links to China. The Biden administration has moved to ban some US investment into China’s quantum computing, advanced chips and AI sectors in an effort to stop the Chinese military from accessing American technology and capital. It will largely affect private equity and venture capital firms, forcing US investors with large operations in the country, such as Sequoia Capital and GGV Capital, to spin off their Chinese businesses. 6park.com
此际，围绕硅谷与中国的联系，局势日益紧张。拜登(Biden)政府已采取行动，禁止美资投资中国的量子计算、先进芯片和人工智能领域，以阻止中国军方获得美国的技术和资本。此举将主要影响私募股权和风险投资公司，迫使红杉资本(Sequoia Capital)和纪源资本(GGV Capital)等在华拥有大量业务的美国投资者剥离它们的在华业务。 6park.com
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The US attorney’s office in San Francisco in recent years charged three former Apple employees with stealing trade secrets related to self-driving car technology for Chinese companies. 6park.com
近年来，旧金山的美国检察官办公室指控过3名前苹果(Apple)员工为中国公司窃取与自动驾驶汽车技术相关的商业机密。 6park.com
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“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,” FBI director Christopher Wray said in a statement. 6park.com
美国联邦调查局局长克里斯托弗•雷(Christopher Wray)在一份声明中表示：“今天的指控是最新的例子，证明了与中华人民共和国境内公司有关联者愿意费多大力气来窃取美国的创新。” 6park.com
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During his employment at Google, Ding secretly affiliated himself with two China-based tech companies, according to the indictment. It alleged he helped raise capital for one of the companies during a five-month trip to China in late 2022. Potential investors were told he was offered the position of its chief technology officer and owned 20 per cent of its stock, prosecutors said. 6park.com
起诉书称，在谷歌工作期间，丁某秘密地与两家中国科技公司发生关联。起诉书称，他在2022年底去中国待了5个月，其间帮助其中一家公司筹集了资金。检方表示，潜在投资者被告知，他获得了该公司首席技术官的职位，并持有该公司20%的股份。 6park.com
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He also allegedly founded his own AI and machine learning company and applied to a China-based incubation programme. Ding travelled to Beijing to present his company at an investor conference in November, prosecutors said. 6park.com
起诉书称，丁某还成立了自己的人工智能和机器学习公司，并申请了一个位于中国的孵化项目。检方称，去年11月，丁某前往北京，在一场投资者会议上推介他的公司。 6park.com
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The indictment stated that he took steps to evade detection by Google’s data loss prevention systems, and also permitted another Google employee to use his work access badge to scan into a Google building, making it appear as if he was working from the US Google office when he was in China. 6park.com
起诉书称，他采用了一些方法逃避谷歌防数据丢失系统的检测，他还让另一名谷歌员工代刷他的门禁卡，制造出他在谷歌办公室里工作的假象，而实际上他那段时间人在中国。