China’s technology company ByteDance is suing a former intern named Tian Keyu for $1.1 million, accusing him of deliberately attacking their artificial intelligence large language model training infrastructure. This case has attracted significant attention in China due to the growing importance of AI technology. ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, is seeking damages from the intern, which is an uncommon move as legal action against interns is rare in China. The focus of the case is on AI large language model training, a technology that has gained global interest for its ability to generate text, images, and other outputs from large datasets.
ByteDance has not commented on the lawsuit, and Tian Keyu, who is reported to be a postgraduate student at Peking University, has not responded to inquiries. The company alleges that Tian deliberately sabotaged their model training tasks through code manipulation and unauthorized modifications, according to an internal memo cited by Legal Weekly.
ByteDance stated in a social media post that they had dismissed the intern in August and downplayed rumors that the case had caused them significant losses. While lawsuits between companies and employees are common in China, this case involving an intern and such a large sum of money is unusual. The incident highlights the importance of protecting AI technology and the potential risks of insider threats in the rapidly advancing field of artificial intelligence.
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