Former intern accused of sabotaging AI project on TikTok faces $1.1 million lawsuit from owner

China’s ByteDance is suing a former intern, Tian Keyu, for $1.1 million, alleging that he deliberately attacked its artificial intelligence large language model training infrastructure. The parent company of TikTok is seeking damages from Tian for sabotaging the team’s model training tasks through code manipulation and unauthorized modifications. This case, which has been filed with the Haidian District People’s Court in Beijing, is unusual as legal action against an intern for such a large sum is uncommon in China. The focus on AI LLM training in the lawsuit has drawn widespread attention as generative AI technology has become a topic of global interest due to rapid technological advancements. ByteDance has declined to comment on the lawsuit, while Tian, a postgraduate student at Peking University as identified by other Chinese media outlets, has not responded to inquiries. In a social media post, ByteDance stated that the intern was dismissed in August and denied rumors that the case had caused the company losses in millions of dollars and involved over 8,000 graphics processing units, calling these claims “seriously exaggerated.”

Photo credit
www.nbcnews.com