US blacklists Shanghai Zhisuan Technology over Google trade secrets theft
The US just blacklisted Shanghai Zhisuan Technology, a Chinese AI company, after it was tied to the theft of Google trade secrets.
The company's founder, Ding Linwei, a former Google software engineer, allegedly applied on behalf of Zhisuan to enter MiraclePlus's startup incubation pipeline, actively promoting and leveraging his inside knowledge of Google's proprietary technology to secure backing for Zhisuan.
This move also impacts MiraclePlus, an incubator run by former Microsoft AI scientist Lu Qi, which had backed the startup.
Ding Linwei conviction risks asset freezes
Ding was convicted earlier this year of stealing more than 2,000 pages of Google's secret AI files and was sentenced to one year in prison.
The US sees this as a big deal in its ongoing tech rivalry with China.
With these sanctions, both companies could face frozen assets and banking restrictions, making life much tougher for everyone involved.