TikTok owner ByteDance announced it had fired an intern for “maliciously interfering” with the training of one of its artificial intelligence (AI) models.
But the company rejected claims about the extent of damage caused by anonymous individuals, saying they “contain exaggerations and inaccuracies.”
This comes after reports about the incident spread on social media over the weekend.
The Chinese tech giant’s Doubao ChatGPT-like generative AI model is the most popular AI chatbot in the country.
“This individual is an intern in our (advertising) technology team and has no experience in the AI lab,” ByteDance said in a statement.
“Their social media profiles and some media reports contain inaccuracies.”
The company added that its commercial online operations, which involve large-scale language AI models, were not affected by the intern’s actions.
ByteDance also denied reports that the incident disrupted its AI training system, which consists of thousands of powerful graphics processing units (GPUs), and caused more than $10 million in damages.
In addition to firing the person in August, ByteDance said it had notified the intern’s university and industry association about the incident.
ByteDance operates some of the world’s most popular social media apps, including TikTok and its Chinese counterpart Douyin.
The company’s apps are appealing to users, and it is widely recognized as a leader in algorithm development.
Like many of its peers in China and around the world, the social media giant is investing heavily in AI.
The company uses this technology to power many other applications, including its Doubao chatbot and a text-to-video tool called Jimeng.
