ByteDance, the Chinese tech giant, is emphasizing the importance of strengthening its long-term technological competitiveness.
At a management meeting on August 6, ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming instructed that the use of competitors' models for 'distillation' in the development of its AI models be prohibited, according to a report by China Business News on August 7. Zhang had previously issued similar directives in internal meetings.
Zhang emphasized that the ban on distillation may result in ByteDance's AI foundational model, 'Seed,' lagging behind the performance evaluations and benchmark rankings of Chinese competitors such as DeepMind, Kimi, and Q1. However, he stated that this trade-off is necessary.
Model distillation involves training a new AI model using the outputs of a more advanced model, which can significantly shorten development time and enhance performance. Despite these advantages, Zhang believes that distillation could hinder long-term technological innovation. He argued that relying on competitors' models would make it difficult for ByteDance to develop its own algorithms and reasoning capabilities.
During the same meeting, Liang Rubo, CEO of ByteDance, highlighted the importance of solidifying foundational skills in the development of large language models (LLMs). He acknowledged that while short-term setbacks may occur, securing long-term competitiveness is crucial. 'The most important thing is to maintain a steady direction,' he said, adding that fostering a culture focused on foundational technology is essential for ultimately achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI).
ByteDance is also developing a system to prevent developers from secretly using outputs from external AI models as training data.
Additionally, during the meeting, ByteDance reported that its consumer-oriented LLM, Doubao, maintained strong competitiveness in the market during the first half of the year, while its video generation model, Seedance, continues to perform at a world-class level.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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