Interns are often blamed for office mishaps, but at ByteDance, a junior employee may have caused significant damage. The Chinese tech company confirmed that it fired an employee who allegedly tampered with the company’s AI model training tasks.
ByteDance, valued at over $220 billion, has been working on its generative AI product Doubao to compete with rivals like Baidu Inc. and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The competition in the AI space has intensified, especially with new players like Nvidia entering the market.
The intern’s dismissal came after reports on Chinese social media alleged that the employee injected code and altered parameters in a group of commercial GPUs, introducing a virus into the company’s AI training system and causing up to $10 million in damages. The intern reportedly attended meetings on the virus’s impact while pretending to be unaware of their actions.
ByteDance terminated the intern in August, stating that the intern was part of the commercial technology team and had no experience in the company’s AI Lab. ByteDance informed the intern’s university to handle disciplinary action.
The company denied some of the rumors surrounding the incident, stating that the reported loss and involvement of GPU cards were exaggerated. ByteDance also clarified that the intern’s actions did not affect its online business, commercial projects, or large models.
ByteDance has made strides in the AI chatbot race, aiming to catch up with other tech giants. CEO Liang Rubo acknowledged that the company was behind in developing generative AI and pushed for urgency in creating its own gen AI.
ByteDance quietly launched its chatbot Doubao last year, reportedly using technology from ChatGPT. Despite criticism for borrowing models from others, ByteDance’s unconventional strategy seemed to pay off as Doubao surpassed ChatGPT in popularity in China.
ByteDance’s latest AI venture is the Ola Friend wearable AI earbuds, which serve as an audio assistant providing access to Doubao without a smartphone connection. The product, available only in China, retails for $170.