ByteDance bites down hard on genAI

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Hello reader,

Call me old-fashioned, but I’m somewhat worried about the effect that generative AI (genAI) will have on kids once combined effectively with social media.

Already, it seems like social media is turning out to be hugely detrimental to young users, from body image issues to cyberbullying and even extremist, radical content. Add in an unhealthy dose of misinformation, and you’ve got a formula for potential disaster.

Of course, that’s not to say that social media is all bad. It can help people find the right community, make friends by talking about the same things they’ve seen online, and more.

But once genAI gets added to the mix, what happens then? Will we end up seeing more users turn to genAI apps and tools – instead of their friends – to beautify their online image and persona? It’s an interesting question for sure.

That said, I’m not going all doom and gloom about this. Perhaps there are opportunities for genAI to do some good in the social media space, and hopefully ByteDance’s efforts in this area turn out to be one of those healthy pushes.

Today we look at:

• ByteDance’s recruitment push to boost its genAI capabilities
• A Vietnamese platform’s US$2.1 million pre-series B round
• Other newsy highlights such as Canva acquiring Affinity and Hang Seng Bank launching a US$4.2 billion fund for SMEs

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Dancing ‘round the AI campfire

Image credit: Timmy Loen

Unsurprisingly, ByteDance has set its sights on Singapore for its genAI push, given that the country has been a strong proponent of the technology. Let’s see if this will give the firm the leg up it’s looking for.

• Lucky number 40: Out of the 100 genAI job openings ByteDance has posted, around 40 were for roles in Singapore involving large language models (LLMs).
• Testing testing 1, 2, 3: The job openings in Singapore span across different teams focused on integrating and testing out the AI capabilities of ByteDance’s offerings. They’ll be working on the firm’s own Chinese LLM as well as other genAI apps.
• FOMO: One possible factor for this move is that ByteDance has been relatively slow compared to other Chinese tech giants in terms of its progress with AI. Rivals such as Alibaba and Baidu released their own LLMs last year.

Read more: ByteDance eyes Singapore for genAI push, posts several job openings

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