Ah, the allure of artificial intelligence it’s like the siren song for tech companies these days. And who can resist joining the ChatGPT party? Certainly not ByteDance, the parent company of the ever-so-addictive TikTok. They’ve decided to shimmy on over to the dance floor alongside Baidu and Alibaba Group Holding, as they test their own chatbot powered by large language models (LLM).
Their little AI project, cutely codenamed “Grace,”is just a baby bot at the moment, going through its experimental phase and earmarked solely for internal testing purposes. So don’t get too excited just yet, folks that’s straight from the ByteDance rep’s mouth.
Here’s the scoop on this LLM endeavor: it’s been developed within Feishu, ByteDance’s enterprise collaboration platform (or Lark, for those of us with international flair). The testing has been hush-hush, limited to a select group of employees who got to experience it last month. And you’re reading about it here before it’s even public knowledge. Aren’t you lucky?
Now, this isn’t ByteDance’s first rodeo with generative AI. They’re trying to saddle up and ride the wave of success that OpenAI’s ChatGPT has been enjoying since its launch last year. Just a side note, ChatGPT hasn’t been officially invited to the party in China.
Back in May, ByteDance let it slip that they were in the early stages of exploring a chatbot called Tako, designed to assist with content search on TikTok. They even tested it with a select group of users in the Philippines.
So why has TikTok, and its domestic doppelganger Douyin, skyrocketed in popularity? It’s all about the algorithmic recommendations, my friends. ByteDance’s secret sauce is their AI-powered recommendation system that guides users toward related content based on preferences and activities.
ByteDance has been an AI enthusiast since its inception in 2012, and it’s no surprise they’re applying their AI prowess to video optimization, filters, and special effects for those oh-so-entertaining short videos.
But wait, there’s more! China’s tech scene is making big moves in generative AI. Baidu introduced its ChatGPT-like service, Ernie Bot, in March, while Alibaba launched Tongyi Qianwen in April. Even AI developer SenseTime and voice recognition developer iFlyTek are getting in on the action.
Of course, with great AI power comes great regulation. AI applications in China must undergo strict security assessments from regulatory bodies before they can mingle with the public. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) recently released a draft law stating that national internet regulatory departments must receive a security assessment application before AI products can operate for public use. Talk about playing hard to get!
This new law has tech companies like Baidu feeling a little uneasy and uncertain as they navigate the rigorous process necessary for their generative AI products to meet the public. But alas, such is the price of innovation in the fast-paced world of AI.
