ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of the social media platform TikTok, sued a former intern for $1.1 million in compensation, alleging that the person attacked the company’s artificial intelligence large language model (AI LLM) training infrastructure, reported Reuters, citing a govt-owned news portal Legal Weekly on Thursday, November 28.
The intern vs. ByteDance case has drawn widespread attention in China amid a heated AI race. According to the report, the company is asking for 8 million yuan ($1.1 million) in damages from the former intern Tian Keyu, according to the lawsuit filed in Haidian District People’s Court in Beijing.
In China, lawsuits between companies and employees are common, but this one grabbed people’s attention as it is against an intern for a relatively larger sum of money than usual. The case has also drawn attention due to its focus on AI LLM training. This technology has captured global interest amid the advancement of generative AI.
According to the report, ByteDance refused to comment on the lawsuit on Thursday, and Tian Keyu did not immediately respond to the emailed media queries.
What are the charges?
Tian Keyu was an intern with ByteDance, who was fired in August this year due to an alleged charge of serious disciplinary violations, The Guardian reported on October 21.
The company alleged that Tian Keyu “maliciously interfered” and sabotaged the training of artificial intelligence (AI) models through code manipulation and unauthorised modifications, as per media reports.
The company commented on the firing of the intern after rumours circulated widely on Chinese social media.
In a social media post in October, the company announced that it fired the intern in August. ByteDance also said that there were rumours about the case costing the company losses in millions of dollars and that more than 8,000 graphics processing units were “seriously exaggerated”, reported the news agency.
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