ByteDance Intern Terminated for Project Sabotage Amid Loss Reports
ByteDance terminated an intern for sabotaging a project, refuting exaggerated reports on losses. The company's GenAI app, Doubao, has garnered 47 million monthly active users in China. ByteDance introduced Ola Friend, an open-ear wearable device for interacting with its chatbot.
The intern, part of the commercialisation technology team, was accused of "maliciously interfering" with the project. ByteDance clarified that online reports exaggerating the damage caused by the intern were inaccurate.
The incident, which occurred in August, led ByteDance to take action by reporting the misconduct to industry associations and the intern's university. Despite the disruption, ByteDance assured that the intern's actions did not impact the company's official projects or its large language artificial intelligence models.
Social media speculation suggested that the intern disrupted training involving a significant number of GPUs, resulting in substantial financial losses for ByteDance. However, ByteDance refuted these claims, stating that the reports were overblown. The company emphasised that the intern had no prior experience with the AI Lab, and certain details in social media posts were inaccurate.
ByteDance's focus on generative AI (GenAI) has been evident in its efforts to compete with industry players like OpenAI. Its GenAI app, Doubao, has gained popularity in China, boasting 47 million monthly active users in September. In comparison, domestic rivals like Baidu's Ernie Bot and Moonshot AI's Kimi have fewer monthly active users.
In a separate development, ByteDance recently introduced Ola Friend, an open-ear wearable device that enables users to interact with the company's chatbot without using their smartphones. This move aligns with ByteDance's innovative approach to technology and user engagement.
An audio recording posted on GitHub alleged that the intern, a student at Beihang University and Peking University, confessed to uploading "malicious code" in the ByteDance project. ByteDance disputed some details from the intern's LinkedIn profile and GitHub records, highlighting discrepancies in the information presented.
ByteDance's statement on Toutiao aimed to provide clarity and address the misinformation circulating on social media. The company remains committed to its technological advancements and ongoing projects, despite the challenges posed by the intern's actions.
ByteDance terminated an intern for sabotaging a project, refuting exaggerated reports on losses.
The company's GenAI app, Doubao, has garnered 47 million monthly active users in China.
ByteDance introduced Ola Friend, an open-ear wearable device for interacting with its chatbot.
Source: SCMP