China gains favour in AI Race

The city of Hangzhou, where DeepSeek is based.

On February 4th, US prosecutors announced the expansion of a 14-count indictment, accusing Chinese citizen Linwei Ding of economic espionage and theft of trade secrets during his time as a software engineer at Google. As tensions between the US and China continue to escalate in what some are saying is a trade war, these concerns raise a question: Can the US protect its technological assets in the midst of a geopolitical rivalry?

In the years following him being hired at the firm in 2019, it is supposed that he uploaded 1,000 files containing information pertaining to Google’s AI infrastructure that was utilised to train its Generative AI models and develop their capabilities, within the last four years. This had been managed to be done within the same time that he had been courted to join an AI startup with China, being offered the position of CTO, and had allegedly founded his own AI and machine learning company, although much is still debated on the details of this matter. 

Since joining Google in 2019, Linwei has been alleged to have uploaded 1,000 files relating to sensitive information surrounding the company’s AI infrastructure– sensitive information that is used to train and develop AI models. According to prosecutors, this had occurred over the past four years whilst Ding had also been courted to take the role of CTO at a Chinese startup and allegedly founding his own AI and machine learning startup. While further details remain unclear, this has heightened concerns over intellectual property theft and the wider implications for the United State’s security on its innovation.

Efforts to safeguard technological assets had been seen throughout Biden and his administration. In 2023, he had established the Disruptive Technology Strikeforce, a team of specialised staff coming from the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations who had been tasked with identifying and prosecuting cases of intellectual property theft. The following year saw Biden issue an executive order that restricted US investment in China, with the goal of hindering the modernisation of their military and intelligence capabilities; the lasting effects of this policy remain to be seen.

China has managed to make strides within its Artificial Intelligence sector over the past few years. Firms like Deep Seek are making significant breakthroughs; its newest R1 model has demonstrated its ability to rival that of Open AI, at an alleged fraction of the cost. With the abundance of raw materials, vast energy supply and access to government aid that Chinese AI firms have been granted access to have enabled them to exploit economies of scale at a rate that is not seen in the US. 

China’s advancements in AI have cemented them as a dominant player on the global stage. Amid ongoing trade wars and raised tensions between the superpowers, concerns over the security of US innovations continue to grow. Although the topic of theft of trade secrets is still in debate, the idea of the US facing threats from the very innovations it helped build makes for a tragic, yet ironic potential outcome.

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