As per the state-owned Legal Weekly, the lawsuit is noteworthy not only for the significant amount being claimed but also because legal disputes involving interns are relatively uncommon in China.
The focus on AI LLM training in this case is particularly relevant, as advancements in generative AI technology have become a global focal point, enabling the creation of text, images, and other outputs from extensive datasets.
ByteDance has refrained from commenting on the lawsuit as of Thursday. Tian, identified by various Chinese media as a postgraduate student at Peking University, has not yet responded to inquiries sent via email.
The allegations against Tian include claims of intentional sabotage of the model training processes through code alterations and unauthorized changes, as reported by Legal Weekly, which referenced an internal memo from ByteDance.
In an October social media update, ByteDance announced the termination of an intern in August. The company refuted circulating rumors asserting substantial financial losses in the millions of dollars and the involvement of over 8,000 graphics processing units, categorizing these claims as significantly exaggerated.