ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, on Saturday fired an intern for “maliciously interfering” with AI model training, according to a statement issued by the Chinese app.
The company dismissed rumours regarding the degree of damage the unidentified person caused, stating that the social media reports contained “some exaggerations and inaccuracies.”
ByteDance issued a statement regarding the intern’s dismissal on Toutiao on Saturday, clarifying that the company was only exposed to minimal harm.
The Doubao ChatGPT-like generative artificial intelligence model developed by the Chinese technology giant is the country’s most famous AI chatbot.
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Incident Overview
Toutiao, also known as Jinri Toutiao, is a platform that provides Chinese news and information. It is a core product of the firm ByteDance, which has its headquarters in China.
“The individual was an intern with the [advertising] technology team and has no experience with the AI Lab,” ByteDance posted on Toutiao. “Their social media profile and some media reports contain inaccuracies.”
According to the corporation, the intern’s actions did not impact the company’s commercial online operations, which included its massive language artificial intelligence models.
ByteDance denied rumours that the breach damaged an AI training system of thousands of powerful graphics processing units (GPUs), which cost more than $10 million.
ByteDance said it fired the person in August and had since notified the intern’s institution and relevant industry associations.
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ByteDance runs TikTok and its Chinese equivalent, Douyin, two of the world’s most popular social media apps.
As with many of its competitors in China and other nations, the social media giant was investing heavily in artificial intelligence.
In addition to powering its Doubao chatbot, the company also employs the technology to power a wide variety of other apps, one of which is a text-to-video tool known as Jimeng.
ByteDance has mitigated immediate worries about this incident, but it underscores IT sector issues with employee control and project security. In IT workplaces, cultivating a culture of responsibility and attention can help sustain trust and integrity as AI technology becomes more integrated into company operations.