ByteDance: TikTok owner to allow users to create AI chatbots

ByteDance, the Chinese tech giant behind TikTok, is working on a new platform to enable users to create their own artificial intelligence chatbots. It's a major play from the $220bn company as it seeks to elbow its way into the fiercely competitive generative AI space, reports The South China Post. It's the latest large technology company to dive into the AI chatbot scene in the wake of OpenAI's ChatGPT explosive growth since it launched one year ago. Founded in 2012, ByteDance is best known for developing popular social media platforms such as TikTok and Chinese news platform, Toutiao. TikTok has become a cultural phenomenon worldwide with around 1.2 billion users. "It's a private company," TikTok CEO Shou Zi said during a hearing of the U.S Congress' House Energy and Commerce Committee in March 2023. An additional twenty percent of the company is owned by ByteDance employees around the world.