TikTok parent company dismisses intern who it says ‘maliciously interfered’ with its AI technology

TikTok’s parent company says it has dismissed an intern who it found had “maliciously interfered” with its artificial intelligence technology effort.

In a statement in Chinese released Monday, the parent company, ByteDance, said the intern had committed a “serious violation” against its commercial technology team’s “research project.”

In particular, the intern’s actions affected ByteDance’s AI training program, the company said. In the AI world, companies attempt to program AI applications by “training” them on vast amounts of data to recognize patterns, understand context and make decisions — in other words, “learn.”

It is not clear what aspect of the AI model the intern is accused of interfering with. A ByteDance spokesperson did not respond to a series of follow-up questions.

TikTok’s algorithm, powered in part by some AI processes, is seen as the app’s most lucrative element. And in China, ByteDance operates the country’s most popular AI chatbot, Doubao, which is similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

ByteDance said that media reports suggesting it was on the verge of losing tens of millions of dollars as a result of the intern’s actions were a “serious exaggeration” and that no commercial projects or online operations were affected.

TikTok continues to rank among the most popular apps in the world. Although the U.S. passed a law this year that set the stage for the app to be banned here, ByteDance has already begun legal action to challenge it.

Meanwhile, both former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have signaled softer stances toward the ban effort as they campaign for president.

Trump has reversed the position he took as president, when he supported a ban, to say now that such a move would end up benefiting Facebook.

Harris, meanwhile, has made ample use of TikTok during her presidential campaign, and she has called for a change in ownership instead of an outright ban.