A former Google engineer has been charged with stealing artificial intelligence secrets. During his time at Google, the man also secretly worked for two Chinese companies, according to the US Department of Justice.
The engineer in question, a 38-year-old Chinese national, worked at Google on software that allows GPUs function efficiently for machine learning, AI applications and other purposes of Google and Google Cloud customers, The Register knows. Before that, he had access to confidential blueprints related to Google's data centers, including information about the hardware infrastructure, the software platform and the AI models and applications it supports.
According to US prosecutors, the former employee copied this information to the Apple Notes applications on the MacBook he had received from Google for work. The Notes files were then converted into PDFs, which he uploaded to his Google Cloud account. That method was not immediately picked up by Google systems that must prevent data loss. This allowed the engineer to steal more than 500 documents between May 2022 and May 2023, prosecutors said. The documents contain information about, among other things, the architecture and functionality of GPU and TPU chips and software with which chips can communicate and perform tasks.
The engineer was approached by a Chinese AI start-up in June 2022 and offered a job as CTO, prosecutors say. The man then spent several months in China, where he also founded his own AI company in May 2023. At the time, the man allowed another Google employee to use his badge at the entrance to office buildings to make it appear as if he was still in the US.
It was not until December 2023 that Google discovered that the engineer had more stolen documents uploaded to a Google Drive account while in China. The engineer says he only kept evidence of his work but had no intention of leaving Google. He agreed to remove these documents and, according to prosecutors, signed a statement confirming this.
On December 26, the man resigned. Three days later, Google saw on camera footage that another employee scanned the engineer's badge and discovered that the engineer also worked for two Chinese companies. On January 4, he was denied access to his laptop and Google's networks. Not long after, the FBI discovered the five hundred files that the engineer allegedly stole.
The man was arrested on March 6. He now faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the four charges.
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