Photo credit: www.bbc.com
ByteDance Responds to Intern’s Disruption of AI Model Training
ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, has announced the termination of an intern who allegedly “maliciously interfered” with the training processes of one of its artificial intelligence (AI) models.
Despite this incident, the company has disputed reports suggesting significant damage was caused, claiming that these reports are “exaggerated and inaccurate.”
In an effort to gather more information on the situation, BBC News has reached out to ByteDance for additional comments.
The company’s Doubao, a generative AI model similar to ChatGPT, has gained popularity as China’s leading AI chatbot. ByteDance clarified in a statement that the intern was part of the commercialization technology team and lacked experience with its dedicated AI Lab.
ByteDance emphasized that the intern’s online presence and certain media narratives contained misleading information. According to the company, the actions taken by the intern did not affect its commercial online operations, which also includes large language AI models.
The firm also dismissed claims that the disruption led to financial damages exceeding $10 million, denying that it impacted an extensive AI training system using thousands of advanced graphics processing units (GPUs).
In addition to terminating the intern’s position in August, ByteDance communicated the incident to the intern’s university and relevant industry bodies.
As a major player in the social media arena, overseeing popular applications such as TikTok and its Chinese counterpart Douyin, ByteDance is recognized for its innovative algorithm development that enhances user engagement across its platforms.
In line with industry trends, ByteDance is heavily investing in AI technology, which supports not only its Doubao chatbot but also various other applications, including a text-to-video creation tool named Jimeng.
Source
www.bbc.com