New Business
China’s ByteDance in race with US rivals to drive artificial general intelligence
Operating under the Beijing-based firm’s Doubao AI model team, Seed Edge will focus on “exploring innovative paths” to artificial general intelligence (AGI) – software with humanlike intelligence and the ability to self-teach, performing tasks that it was not necessarily trained for.
“Seed Edge encourages exploration into long-term, uncertain and bold AI research topics,” ByteDance said in a statement on Thursday. “[We will] provide a liberal research setting … to tackle disruptive AI research topics.”
The latest project of ByteDance – a start-up with an estimated US$300 billion valuation, according to business analytics firm CB Insights – reflects its aggressive investment strategy, as major US tech firms like ChatGPT creator OpenAI accelerate their AGI push.
Founded by entrepreneur Zhang Yiming in 2012, ByteDance is set to invest 4.5 billion yuan (US$615 million) in a new computing centre in Datong, a city in northern Shanxi province, as part of infrastructure to support its AI operations.
The launch of ByteDance’s AGI programme has apparently received the direct blessing of founder Zhang, who has kept a low profile since stepping away from all his corporate roles, according to a report by Chinese media outlet LatePost.
Source link
