Xpeng Upgrades Trade Secret Compliance System with Employee Lifecycle and AI Policies
Xpeng Group has released its updated "Trade Secret Compliance Management System," introducing comprehensive regulations covering employee lifecycles, supply chain management, and AI tool usage. The new policy mandates strict onboarding and offboarding checks, data desensitization for AI inputs, and keeping API logs for two years. As competition in the electric vehicle industry intensifies, protecting intellectual property and preventing talent-related leaks have become critical. This move highlights how modern automotive companies are adapting their security frameworks to address emerging risks from generative AI and supply chain collaboration. Under the new rules, Xpeng will use digital watermarking and encrypted transmissions for supply chain data, and require employees to desensitize data before inputting it into AI tools. Additionally, the company will conduct quarterly audits of AI usage and has established a multi-departmental task force to investigate potential leaks.
## BACKGROUND
Data desensitization is a security technique that removes or modifies sensitive information (such as names or ID numbers) to protect privacy while keeping the data usable. Digital watermarking involves embedding hidden information into digital signals like images or videos, which remains intact even after editing or screenshots, allowing companies to trace the source of data leaks.