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Justice Division officers referred to as the case a sign that the U.S. authorities will stay vigilant in opposition to makes an attempt to illicitly switch superior U.S. applied sciences to China amid a Chilly Warfare-like technological arms race between Washington and Beijing.
“The Justice Division won’t tolerate the theft of synthetic intelligence and different superior applied sciences that might put our nationwide safety in danger,” U.S. Legal professional Basic Merrick Garland stated in a press release.
If convicted, Ding faces a most penalty of 10 years in jail and as much as $1 million in fines.
In accordance with an indictment filed Tuesday in federal court docket in San Francisco, Ding was employed by Google as a software program engineer in 2019 and labored on the corporate’s supercomputing knowledge facilities. He labored on growing software program that helped the operation of machine studying and AI functions for Google’s shoppers, the indictment stated.
Prosecutors stated Ding started importing confidential Google info to a private Google Cloud account in Might 2022 and had uploaded greater than 500 recordsdata by Might 2023.
The commerce secret theft counts contain chip structure and software program design specs for “tensor processing models” and “graphics processing models,” chips which can be the constructing blocks of supercomputing facilities.
Whereas nonetheless employed at Google, Ding grew to become the chief expertise officer of a China-based AI firm, Beijing Rongshu Lianzhi Know-how, and based a second China-based firm, Shanghai Zhisuan Know-how, with out informing Google, the indictment stated.
The FBI searched Ding’s residence Jan. 6, seizing his digital units and different proof.
“Let at this time’s announcement function additional warning: Those that would switch delicate U.S. expertise to China threat discovering themselves on the mistaken finish of a prison indictment,” Assistant Secretary Matthew Axelrod of the Commerce Division’s Workplace for Export Enforcement stated in a press release.
The Justice Division stated the investigation into Ding was carried out by the Justice and Commerce departments’ Disruptive Know-how Strike Power, a year-old group aimed toward securing U.S. applied sciences from being acquired by “authoritarian regimes and hostile nation-states.”
Each the U.S. and Chinese language governments view synthetic intelligence as a strategic rising expertise with broad potential to spice up financial output in civilian sectors, whereas offering key capabilities for militaries and intelligence businesses. President Biden issued an AI govt order final 12 months aimed toward retaining the USA forward of nations like China in AI improvement.
Ding, Beijing Rongshu Lianzhi Know-how and Shanghai Zhisuan Know-how couldn’t be instantly reached for remark.
Google spokesperson José Castañeda stated the corporate had referred the case to federal officers. “We’ve got strict safeguards to forestall the theft of our confidential business info and commerce secrets and techniques. After an investigation, we discovered that this worker stole quite a few paperwork, and we shortly referred the case to legislation enforcement,” he stated.
Gerrit De Vynck contributed to this report.
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