TikTok-owner tests ChatGPT-style bot after joining China AI race

The mysterious chatbot is the first official indication of ByteDance’s push into the nascent field of generative AI, which took off after OpenAI demonstrated its potential by rolling out ChatGPT in November. — Photo by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash

ByteDance Ltd. is testing an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot among employees, joining rival Chinese internet conglomerates from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to Baidu Inc. in a race to create a local version of ChatGPT.

TikTok’s owner has code-named the project "Grace,” a ByteDance spokesperson said without revealing more details. Employees using the service will be greeted by a pop-up message saying it’s based on several large language models, according to one of the testers, who asked to remain unidentified discussing an internal project.