A Chinese software engineer has been arrested for allegedly stealing artificial intelligence technology from Google while secretly working for two Chinese companies. Linwei Ding, 38, also known as Leon Ding, faces four counts of theft of trade secrets, the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, said in a statement. Ding, who was arrested on Wednesday in Newark, California, allegedly transferred confidential information from Google's network to his personal account while secretly affiliated with Chinese-based companies in the AI industry. "The justice department will not tolerate the theft of artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies that could put our national security at risk," Garland said. "We will fiercely protect sensitive technologies developed in America from falling into the hands of those who should not have them."

The Google employee who claimed last June his company's A.I. model could already be sentient, and was later fired by the company, is still worried about the dangers of new A.I.-powered chatbots, even if he hasn't tested them himself yet. Blake Lemoine was let go from Google last summer for violating the company's confidentiality policy after he published transcripts of several conversations he had with LaMDA, the company's large language model he helped create that forms the artificial intelligence backbone of Google's upcoming search engine assistant, the chatbot Bard. Lemoine told the Washington Post at the time that LaMDA resembled "a 7-year-old, 8-year-old kid that happens to know physics" and said he believed the technology was sentient, while urging Google to take care of it as it would a "sweet kid who just wants to help the world be a better place for all of us." To be sure, while A.I. applications are almost certain to influence how we work and go about our daily lives, the large language models powering ChatGPT, Microsoft's Bing, and Google's Bard cannot feel emotions and are not sentient. They simply enable chatbots to predict what word to use next based on a large trove of data.

As an employee, he downloaded more than 14,000 files containing the intellectual property of Google's former self-driving car division, Waymo, before leaving to found Otto, which was soon acquired by Uber.

A former Google engineer has expressed fears about a new generation of robots that could carry out'atrocities and unlawful killings'. Laura Nolan, who previously worked on the tech giant's military drone initiative, Project Maven, is calling for the ban of all autonomous war drones, as these machines do not have the same common sense or discernment as humans. Project Maven focused on enhancing drones with artificial intelligence (AI) to distinguish enemy targets from people and other objects – but was discontinued after employees protested the technology in development, calling it'evil'. Nolan, who left Google in 2018 in protest against the US military drone technology, is now calling for all drones not operated by humans to fall under the same ban as chemical weapons, according to The Guardian. Former Google engineer has expressed fears about a new generation of robots that could carryout'atrocities and unlawful killings'.

The judge is recommending a criminal probe be opened up into the technology exchange to Uber. Former Google engineer Anthony Levandowski, who quit the tech giant before merging his own startup with Uber, has been charged with stealing Google's self-driving car trade secrets, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday. Levandowski, 39, who served as the head of Uber's self-driving project, had been named in a 2017 lawsuit brought against Uber by Waymo, Google's former self-driving car unit, claiming that the popular ride-sharing app stole trade secrets from Google. That suit ended in a settlement of $245 million. At the time, federal judge William Alsup, who was overseeing the case, recommended criminal charges against Levandowski.

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA – A former Google engineer was charged Tuesday with stealing closely guarded secrets that he later sold to Uber as the ride-hailing service scrambled to catch up in the high-stakes race to build robotic vehicles. The indictment filed by the U.S. Attorney's office in San Jose, California, is an offshoot of a lawsuit filed in 2017 by Waymo, a self-driving car pioneer spun off from Google. Uber agreed to pay Waymo $245 million to settle the case, but the federal judge overseeing the lawsuit made an unusual recommendation to open a criminal probe. Uber considered having self-driving technology crucial to survive. Anthony Levandowski, a pioneer in robotic vehicles, was charged with 33 counts of trade secrets theft.

A new startup that proposes a different spin on autonomous transportation came out of stealth today. The company, called Nuro, was founded by two former lead Google engineers who worked on the famed self-driving car project. Unlike the plethora of self-driving startups out there, Nuro isn't focused on reconfiguring robot taxis or autonomous trucks, but on designing a new type of vehicle altogether. Nuro is focused on deliveries, specifically the kind that are low-speed, local, and last-mile: groceries, laundry, or your take-out order from Seamless. The startup thinks that automating these services could help shoulder the sharp increase in last-mile deliveries, while also reducing traffic accidents and boosting local businesses who are looking for ways to thrive and compete in the age of Amazon.

A pair of ex-Google engineers have unveiled a new self-driving van designed to deliver groceries to your home. Silicon valley startup Nuro.ai raised £65 million ($92 million) to create a working prototype of its'R1' vehicle, which the company says will never seat a human inside. The low-speed car is fitted with panels in its side that open up via an app to reveal its cargo, and Nuro claims it could have a road-legal fleet ready by 2022. A pair of ex-Google engineers have unveiled a new self-driving car designed to deliver groceries to your home. Startup Nuro.ai raised £65 million ($92 million) to create a working prototype of its'R1' vehicle (pictured), which the company says will never seat a human inside The smartphone app will give a code that pops open the vehicle's side hatches so customers can fetch their items.

Anthony Levandowski, the former Google and Uber executive has filed paperwork with the IRS to officially register a religion centered around super-smart artificial intelligence (AI). According to IRS documents, the new church of AI will aim "to develop and promote the realization of a Godhead based on artificial intelligence and through understanding and worship of the Godhead [to] contribute to the betterment of society." Levandowski would be the leader – in this case "dean" – of the religion. The robot god will head a non-profit religious organization called "Way Of The Future" (WOTF). According to the website (wayofthefuture.church), the movement is "about creating a peaceful and respectful transition of who is in charge of the planet from people to people'machines.'"

An ex-Google engineer who has registered the first church of AI says he is'raising a god' that will that charge of humans. The robot god will head a religion called Way Of The Future (WOTF), which will eventually have a gospel called'The Manual', rituals and even a physical place of worship, Anthony Levandowski first filed papers with the Internal Revenue Service inMay, and named himself as'dean' of WOTF, giving him complete control until his death or resignation. Levandowski his robot god will take charge of its human subjects as we relinquish our power to a creation with far more intelligence than our own. Anthony Levandowski (right) who has registered the first church of AI says he is'raising a god' that will treat humans as esteemed elders. He is pictured with Uber founder and ex-CEO Travis Kalanick.