AI sabotaged

Former TikTok intern sued for millions

TikTok's parent company ByteDance has sued a former intern for alleged sabotage of the company's own AI. The Chinese company is demanding the equivalent of around one million euros in damages.

According to a statement published in a Chinese official journal, ByteDance accuses the accused of manipulating software and thereby torpedoing the training of the AI. The former trainee could not be reached for comment. The company did not wish to comment on the case.

In October, ByteDance announced online that the intern in question had been dismissed in August. However, rumors that the case had cost the company millions of dollars and 8,000 high-performance processors were "greatly exaggerated".

Lawsuits between companies and employees are not uncommon in China. However, interns are rarely sued, especially for such large sums. The affair is attracting additional interest because it revolves around generative AI, which has dominated the headlines since the release of ChatGPT two years ago.

The USA and China in particular are in a race for technological leadership in these programs, which create complete texts, images or videos based on just a few commands.