As a leader in algorithm development, ByteDance employs over 110,000 people globally and continues to be a major player in the social media industry, driven by the popularity of TikTok and Douyin.

ByteDance recently terminated an intern for allegedly 'maliciously interfering' with the training of its AI models, an incident that occurred in August 2024.

The intern, who was part of the commercial technology team, was accused of serious disciplinary violations and is now the subject of reports to their university and relevant industry bodies.

The alleged sabotage involved the intern planting malicious code that slowed down TikTok's AI model training, which relies on over 8,000 NVIDIA H100 GPUs.

This incident gained significant attention on social media, particularly concerning ByteDance's popular generative AI model, Doubao.

The company emphasized that its formal commercial projects and large language AI models were not affected by the intern's actions.

This incident occurs amid a broader context of increasing scrutiny on tech companies regarding the safety of generative AI models and the impact of social media.

Despite ByteDance's efforts to clarify the situation, skepticism persists online, with some commenters questioning the company's statements about the intern's team affiliation.

ByteDance has denied claims that the incident resulted in over $10 million in damages, asserting that the disruption affected only a research project and did not impact commercial operations.

As ByteDance continues to develop generative AI technologies, including the Doubao chatbot, it faces scrutiny regarding the safety and ethical implications of its AI models.

US officials have raised concerns about ByteDance's potential threat to national security, especially as the company reportedly develops new AI models using Huawei chips.

Additionally, ByteDance's AI algorithms are under scrutiny for their potential negative effects on children, as revealed in leaked internal documents.