Chinese ex-Google engineer charged with stealing AI trade secrets

The case was announced by Attorney General Merrick Garland (Eric Risberg/AP)

A former software engineer at Google has been charged with stealing artificial intelligence trade secrets from the company while secretly working with two companies based in China, the US Justice Department has said.

Linwei Ding, a Chinese national, was arrested in Newark, California, on four counts of federal trade secret theft, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison.