
Theft of trade secrets is on the rise—and AI is making it worse
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. A former Google employee accused of stealing trade secrets related to the company’s Pixel phones was indicted Thursday, adding to cases highlighting the security threats companies face in an era of rapidly evolving technology. The employee, who worked as a Google hardware engineer from 2019 to 2023, was charged with six theft-related charges.
Her husband and sister were indicted on similar charges after allegedly working with her to steal trade secrets from Google and two other tech companies. The defendants, from Iran, had pursued advanced degrees in the U.S. and careers in tech.
The Google case is the third high-profile incident in recent years involving misappropriation of the company’s trade secrets. A former software engineer was recently convicted by a federal jury of stealing information about the company’s artificial-intelligence chips in 2022 and 2023 to benefit China. The Justice Department said that case marked the first conviction on economic-espionage charges related to AI.
In late 2024, a judge mandated that a former engineer stop posting photos of internal documents about coming Pixel chips. The incidents highlight the value of sensitive information needed to make the chips and devices powering the modern economy. Secrets behind critical technology can be worth billions of dollars, making them an attractive target.
AI is adding to the challenge by making trade secrets more lucrative and giving thieves a new tool to deploy in their heists. In response, companies are tightening their security protocols, changes that challenge the open corporate culture many Silicon Valley companies prize. “Our threat model is changing in such a way that we’re going to move more in real
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