The proprietor of TikTok has sacked an intern for allegedly sabotaging an inner synthetic intelligence venture.
ByteDance mentioned it had dismissed the individual in August after they “maliciously interfered” with the coaching of synthetic intelligence (AI) fashions utilized in a analysis venture.
Because of the video-sharing app TikTok and its Chinese language counterpart, Douyin, which rank among the many world’s hottest cell apps, ByteDance has risen to turn into one of many world’s most necessary social media corporations.
Like different huge gamers within the tech sector, ByteDance has raced to embrace generative AI. Its Doubao chatbot earlier this yr took over from the competitor Baidu’s Ernie within the race to supply a Chinese language rival to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
ByteDance has additionally launched wi-fi earbuds which can be built-in with Doubao, permitting customers to work together with the chatbot immediately and not using a cell phone.
The corporate commented on the sacking of the intern after rumours circulated extensively on Chinese language social media over the weekend.
In a press release posted on its information aggregator service, Toutiao, ByteDance mentioned that an intern within the industrial expertise staff had been dismissed for critical disciplinary violations, in response to a translation.
It added that its official industrial merchandise and its giant language fashions, the underlying expertise for generative AI, had not been affected.
The corporate mentioned that studies and rumours on social media contained exaggerations, together with over the dimensions of the disruption. ByteDance mentioned this included rumours that as many as 8,000 graphical processing items, the chips used to coach AI fashions, had been affected, and that losses had been within the tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars}.
ByteDance mentioned that it had knowledgeable the intern’s college and business associations about their conduct.
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It comes amid scrutiny on tech corporations world wide over the protection of generative AI fashions, and the results of social media.
ByteDance additionally faces specific scrutiny within the US, the place it’s preventing towards a threatened federal ban. The corporate has till 19 January to promote its stake in TikTok to an accredited purchaser or shut it. The US authorities contends that TikTok is a nationwide safety risk, an allegation ByteDance strongly disputes.
ByteDance and TikTok had been approached for remark.
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