ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, has introduced a new AI research initiative called Seed Edge.

The program will focus on artificial general intelligence (AGI), a theoretical form of machine intelligence that can comprehend and learn any intellectual task that a human being is capable of.

Seed Edge will operate under ByteDance’s Doubao AI model team and target five key areas: improving reasoning abilities, enhancing machine perceptual capabilities, integrating software and hardware in model designs, exploring advanced machine-learning paradigms, and scaling AI technologies.

ByteDance said that the initiative targets “long-term, uncertain, and bold AI research topics.”

As part of this commitment, ByteDance plans to invest 4.5 billion yuan (US$615 million) in a new computing center in Shanxi province.

By launching Seed Edge, ByteDance enters the competitive AGI field, joining other tech giants like OpenAI.

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