In an interview discussing recent developments at ByteDance, the company, known for owning TikTok, revealed that it terminated an intern due to allegations of sabotage related to an internal artificial intelligence project.
The dismissal occurred in August after the intern reportedly “maliciously interfered” with the training of artificial intelligence models crucial to a research initiative. Given the immense popularity of TikTok and its Chinese counterpart Douyin, ByteDance has established itself as a major player in the global social media landscape, particularly as it seeks to leverage generative AI technologies.
The company has recently made strides in this area, such as with the launch of its Doubao chatbot, which has positioned itself against competitors like Baidu’s Ernie in the quest to create a viable alternative to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Additionally, ByteDance introduced wireless earbuds that seamlessly connect with Doubao, allowing users to engage with the chatbot without needing their smartphones.
ByteDance addressed the intern’s termination following a swirl of rumors on Chinese social media over the weekend. In a statement released via its news aggregator service, Toutiao, the company clarified that the intern was let go from the commercial technology team due to serious disciplinary violations. They also emphasized that the integrity of their commercial products and large language models, the backbone of generative AI, remained intact.
While ByteDance acknowledged the existence of speculation on social media regarding the incident, they asserted that many of the claims were exaggerated. This included assertions that up to 8,000 graphical processing units—essential for AI model training—were impacted, along with claims of losses amounting to tens of millions of dollars. The company disclosed that it had notified the intern’s university and relevant industry associations about their conduct.
This incident comes at a time when tech giants are facing increased scrutiny regarding the safety of generative AI models and the broader implications of social media. ByteDance itself is under significant pressure in the United States, where it is contending with a potential federal ban on TikTok. The government argues that TikTok poses a national security threat, a claim that ByteDance continues to dispute vigorously.
Attempts to reach ByteDance and TikTok for further comments are ongoing.
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