TikTok Owner Sacks Intern for Sabotaging AI Project
ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, has dismissed an intern for allegedly sabotaging the training of one of its artificial intelligence (AI) models. The company acknowledged the intern’s interference but disputed claims about the scale of the impact, calling reports on the matter “exaggerated and inaccurate.”
The incident came to light after social media reports surfaced over the weekend, highlighting ByteDance’s generative AI project, Doubao, which is China’s leading AI chatbot. ByteDance clarified that the intern, part of the advertising technology team, had no direct involvement with the company’s AI Lab.
“The individual’s social media profile and media reports contain inaccuracies,” ByteDance said in a statement. The company emphasized that its AI models and commercial operations were not significantly affected by the intern’s actions.
ByteDance also refuted reports suggesting that the disruption caused over $10 million in damage by halting the AI training system. The company added that the intern was dismissed in August and their university and relevant industry bodies were notified of the incident.
As a leading technology firm, ByteDance operates some of the most popular social media platforms globally, including TikTok and its Chinese counterpart Douyin. The company is also a major player in AI development, utilizing the technology for its chatbot Doubao and other tools like Jimeng, a text-to-video application.
