TikTok’s Chinese Parent Company, ByteDance, Is Testing An AI Chatbot

The initiative has been code-named “Grace” by TikTok’s owner, according to a ByteDance representative. According to one of the testers, who requested anonymity to discuss an internal project, employees accessing the service will be welcomed by a pop-up notice stating that it is based on many huge language models.

The cryptic chatbot is the first formal evidence of ByteDance’s effort in the embryonic field of generative AI, which exploded after OpenAI revealed its promise in November by releasing ChatGPT. Since its inception more than a decade ago, the Chinese company, which also operates the domestic video service Douyin, has been producing smartphone apps based on AI algorithmic recommendations.

China’s internet sector has initiated a mad dash towards artificial intelligence investment. In March, Baidu launched Ernie Bot, the first significant response to ChatGPT, prompting a race among businesses such as Alibaba, Tencent Holdings Ltd., and SenseTime Group Inc. to introduce competing platforms. Local Chinese media reported that ByteDance is working on its own large language models, which the business did not confirm.

In the absence of ChatGPT and Western competitors like Google’s Bard, all of them are competing for dominance in a profitable domestic market. China’s top internet regulator has stated that generative AI tools will need to be reviewed for security before they can be used. Meanwhile, US restrictions have denied Chinese IT businesses the best CPUs for training AI models.

TikTok is alo experimenting with a chatbot called Tako on a global scale. For the time being, it appears as an instant messenger within TikTok’s primary platform, from which users can ask inquiries.