TikTok parent ByteDance sues former intern for $1.1 million

ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, is suing a former intern for 8 million yuan (about $1.1 million), accusing him of deliberately disrupting its artificial intelligence (AI) training operations, according to a recent report by Reuters. The lawsuit, filed in Beijing's Haidian District People's Court, has sparked widespread interest in China owing to its unique nature.

According to the Reuters report, the intern, Tian Keyu, is accused of sabotaging ByteDance's AI training systems by altering code and making unauthorised changes. AI training involves processing large amounts of data to improve tools like chatbots and image generators.

ByteDance claims these actions harmed their operations but called rumours about millions of dollars in damages and thousands of affected processors "seriously exaggerated", states Reuters.

Tian, reportedly a postgraduate student at Peking University according to Chinese news outlets, was dismissed from ByteDance in August. ByteDance has not shared further details and declined to comment to Reuters on the ongoing case. Tian has also not yet responded to the allegations.

This case is unusual because lawsuits of this scale against interns are rare in China. It has drawn attention due to its focus on cutting-edge AI LLM (Large Language Model) technology, a field where companies are racing to develop advanced tools like generative AI, which creates text and images from data.