ByteDance is accused of illegally using OpenAI’s tech to develop its chatbot

The company ByteDance, which owns the popular TikTok app, has been accused of illegally utilizing OpenAI's technology in the development of its own competing large language model.

It is reported that ByteDance attempted to conceal the use of OpenAI's API, but the leading artificial intelligence entity blocked the Chinese company's account during the investigation.

It is claimed that ByteDance's actions contradict the terms of service provided by OpenAI. Under these terms, customers are not permitted to develop any artificial intelligence models that may compete with OpenAI's products and services. Microsoft, through which ByteDance gained access to OpenAI, has a similar policy.

According to information from The Verge, based on internal sources, ByteDance was aware of these conditions but continued to use the API to train its AI model known as Project Seed. Restrictions on the API's use for the development of this project were imposed after the Dubao chatbot received regulatory approval for use in China.