ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, has filed a lawsuit against a former intern, accusing him of sabotage.
The company is seeking $1.1 million in damages.
The intern, Tian Keyu, is alleged to have tampered with ByteDance’s artificial intelligence (AI) systems during his time with the company.
This case has drawn significant attention, as lawsuits against interns for such high amounts are uncommon.
The lawsuit was filed in the Haidian District People’s Court in Beijing. ByteDance claims Tian deliberately manipulated source code and made unauthorized changes to systems used to train large language models (LLMs).
Greatly Exaggerated
These AI models are key to ByteDance’s research and innovation. They are part of a growing field of generative AI, which powers tools like ChatGPT by creating text, images, and other content from large datasets.
In an October social media post, ByteDance revealed that it had terminated Tian’s internship in August.
The company dismissed rumors suggesting that Tian’s actions caused millions of dollars in damage and affected over 8,000 graphics processing units (GPUs).
ByteDance described these claims as “greatly exaggerated.”
Tian, a graduate student from Peking University, has not commented on the accusations. ByteDance has also refused to provide further details on the incident.
The company maintains that the damages it seeks reflect the seriousness of the alleged sabotage.
LLMs, such as those used by ByteDance, have become central to the AI industry. These systems require extensive computational resources and precise coding to function effectively.
Any interference can disrupt their development and cause significant setbacks. ByteDance, like other tech giants, faces intense competition in the AI space and is under pressure to protect its technology.
