ByteDance Fires Intern for Sabotaging AI Training Project

ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, has terminated an intern for “maliciously interfering” with the training of one of its artificial intelligence (AI) models. The incident has garnered significant attention on social media over the weekend, prompting ByteDance to clarify the details surrounding the event.

The intern, who worked in the advertising technology team, reportedly lacked experience in the AI Lab. In a statement, ByteDance emphasized that the intern’s actions did not significantly disrupt its commercial online operations, including the company’s large language AI models.

ByteDance refuted claims that the incident led to over $10 million (£7.7 million) in damages by disrupting an AI training system reliant on thousands of powerful graphics processing units (GPUs). The company characterized such reports as containing “exaggerations and inaccuracies.”

In addition to firing the intern in August, ByteDance has notified the individual’s university and relevant industry bodies about the situation. The Chinese technology giant is known for its popular social media applications, including TikTok and its Chinese counterpart Douyin, and is recognized as a leader in algorithm development.

With a significant investment in AI, ByteDance utilizes the technology for various applications, including its Doubao chatbot, which has emerged as the most popular AI chatbot in China, as well as a text-to-video tool named Jimeng.