Recently, a 38-year-old former Google software engineer from China, Leon Ding, was found guilty by a federal jury in San Francisco, USA. He faced seven charges of economic espionage and another seven of trade secret theft. The charges stemmed from his alleged theft of a substantial volume of highly sensitive artificial intelligence trade secrets from Google. His motive, prosecutors claimed, was to aid two Chinese tech firms with which he had covert partnerships.

Following an 11-day trial, the jury concluded that Ding's actions were a flagrant betrayal of trust. During his tenure at Google, Ding worked as a software engineer, focusing on software development for supercomputing data centers. This role gave him access to confidential data.

Prosecutors alleged that starting in May 2022, Ding began secretly uploading Google's trade secrets to his personal account. Simultaneously, and without Google's knowledge, he took on roles at two Chinese tech companies, one of which he had a hand in founding. If the conviction stands, Ding could be sentenced to several decades in prison and face hefty fines, reflecting the gravity of his alleged offenses.