The owner of TikTok fires an intern for allegedly undermining an AI project.
An intern was fired by the TikTok owner for allegedly undermining an internal artificial intelligence project.
According to ByteDance, the individual was fired in August for “maliciously interfering” with the development of artificial intelligence (AI) models for a study.
ByteDance has become one of the most significant social media firms in the world because of the video-sharing software TikTok and its Chinese equivalent, Douyin, which are among the most downloaded mobile apps worldwide.
ByteDance has hurried to adopt generative AI, just like other major tech companies. Earlier this year, its Doubao chatbot defeated Baidu’s Ernie in the competition to create a Chinese alternative to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Additionally, ByteDance has introduced Doubao-enabled wireless earphones that let customers communicate with the chatbot directly without a smartphone.
Following rumors that went viral on Chinese social media over the weekend, the company released a statement regarding the intern’s termination.
According to a translation of a statement ByteDance made on its news aggregator site, Toutiao, an intern in the commercial technology team was fired for major disciplinary infractions.
It further stated that the generative AI technology’s foundational large language models and official commercial products have not been impacted.
The business said that social media rumors and stories were exaggerated, particularly in regards to the extent of the disturbance. According to ByteDance, this included speculation that losses were tens of millions of dollars and that up to 8,000 graphics processing units—the chips required to train AI models—were impacted.
ByteDance claimed to have notified the intern’s industry groups and university about their behavior.
It coincides with international examination of tech corporations about the influence of social media and the safety of generative AI models.
In the US, where it is battling a possible government ban, ByteDance is also under intense examination. The corporation has until January 19th to either close or sell its interest in TikTok to a bidder who has been approved. ByteDance vehemently refutes the US government’s claim that TikTok poses a threat to national security.