Americans already know ByteDance as owner of social media phenomenon TikTok, which Congress ruled in March would be banned in the U.S. unless its Beijing-based parent divests. However, ByteDance is also making huge strides in AI under the leadership of Liang Rubo, who replaced his former roommate and co-founder, Zhang Yiming, as chief executive in 2021. In May, the company released an AI model, dubbed Doubao, which has overtaken Baidu’s ERNIE as China’s most popular chatbot and costs 99.8% less to run than OpenAI’s ChatGPT4, according to ByteDance. But if the company has been given a rough ride by U.S. lawmakers over TikTok, don’t expect any softening when it comes to broader AI applications, with Washington determined to maintain any competitive advantage via export controls. In response, ByteDance is investing $2 billion to develop an AI hub in Malaysia and is negotiating with Broadcom to design an advanced AI chip. Seizing on the potential of AI has become something of an obsession for Liang, who went viral for lambasting colleagues for being slow to identify the technology’s potential. “This is an era of great change,” Liang told a company meeting in January, urging staff to “escape the gravity of mediocrity.”
