ByteDance Enters AI Arena with Doubao, Offering Ultra-Low Cost and Versatile Applications

ByteDance Ltd., the Chinese parent company of TikTok, has launched its generative AI model called Doubao in China on Wednesday. This move places it amidst the competitive AI landscape in China, offering low cost and a rich array of applications. [para. 1]

Originally named “Yunque,” Doubao is notable for being one of the first AI models in China to receive algorithm registration in the year 2023. It is available at an impressively low cost of 0.0008 yuan per 1,000-token prompt, which is 99.8% cheaper than OpenAI’s GPT-4 model. Tan Dai, president of ByteDance’s cloud computing services unit Volcano Engine, highlighted this during the launch event held in Beijing. [para. 2]

The Doubao model handles an impressive 120 billion tokens and generates around 30 million images daily, marking it as one of China’s most extensively used AI models. In the realm of natural language processing (NLP), a token is defined as a unit of text that the AI model processes, with each 1,000 tokens being roughly equivalent to 750 English words. [para. 3]

Despite the already competitive pricing of AI models in China compared to foreign counterparts, Tan emphasized the need for further cost reductions. Enterprises face significant uncertainties in adopting AI technology and require lower trial-and-error costs. By employing distributed inference and large-scale mixed scheduling, ByteDance aims to further optimize these expenses, Tan explained. [para. 4]

The Doubao family includes nine models, such as the high-end Doubao Pro, capable of handling up to 128,000 tokens, and the entry-level Doubao Lite. Additionally, the range includes models designed for specialized functions like audio recognition and text-to-image creation. [para. 5]

ByteDance is focused on developing AI products like Doubao and enhancing existing business offerings through AI to reduce production barriers and improve user experience. The company plans to integrate Doubao into over 50 of its applications, including Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. [para. 6]

The Doubao app has already surpassed 100 million downloads, boasting over 26 million monthly active users, as shared by Zhu Jun, ByteDance’s vice president of product and strategy. [para. 7]

To support its AI initiatives, ByteDance has set up a specialized AI model department called Flow, which concentrates on text and multimodal generation, including images and videos. The company is also actively recruiting AI talent in Silicon Valley, as reported by sources to Caixin. [para. 8]