ByteDance had terminated an intern in August for interfering with a model training project, the company said in a statement on Saturday.

The intern, who was part of a team developing advertising technology, was reportedly involved in misconduct.

ByteDance has communicated details of this case to industry bodies and the individual’s university for further examination.

The company assured that its primary commercial projects and AI models were not affected.

Social media speculation in China suggested the intern’s actions caused disruptions. This included alleged financial losses from interference with a GPU cluster.