ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, is suing a former intern named Tian Keyu for $1.1 million, alleging that he deliberately attacked its artificial intelligence large language model training infrastructure. This case has garnered widespread attention in China, where there is a heated AI race. The lawsuit was filed with the Haidian District People’s Court in Beijing, with ByteDance seeking damages for the alleged sabotage of its AI LLM training.
While lawsuits between companies and employees are common in China, this case is unusual due to the large sum being sought from an intern. The focus on AI LLM training technology has captured global interest due to rapid advances in generative AI, which is used to produce text, images, or other content from large datasets.
ByteDance has declined to comment on the lawsuit, and Tian has not responded to requests for comment. Tian is accused of sabotaging the team’s model training tasks through code manipulation and unauthorized modifications, according to an internal memo cited by Legal Weekly.
ByteDance stated in a social media post that the intern was dismissed in August, and that rumors of the case costing the company millions of dollars and involving thousands of graphics processing units were “seriously exaggerated.” This case sheds light on the importance of protecting AI infrastructure and intellectual property in the competitive AI industry.
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