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It is true that the social network TikTok has several developments related to artificial intelligence, both in the search for content and in other sections of its application more focused on creation, such as offering the possibility of cloning your voice with AI to read texts in your videos.
Be that as it may, everyone thought that ByteDance would develop its own large language model (LLM) in order to save costs and keep its intellectual property and algorithms safe. In fact, some experts had even speculated about the possibility that the company behind TikTok was somehow and secretly using OpenAI’s technologies precisely to create its own LLM.
The truth is that after all that and that information, OpenAI suspended ByteDance’s accounts to investigate possible violations of its developer license, something that the Chinese company acknowledged in part by stating that it had used OpenAI’s technology “in a very limited way” in the creation of its own models.
Now the story has taken a step further, and it is that reports published in such important media as The Information or The Verge, confirm that, curiously, TikTok is one of Microsoft’s biggest customers at least if we look at the cloud computing business with artificial intelligence. And besides, it is so with dizzying figures and without anyone explaining too well why.
According to sources, TikTok would be paying about $20 million per month to have OpenAI’s AI models, thus representing about a quarter or a fifth of the revenue generated globally, which would already be close to $1 billion per year.
In the past, OpenAI suspended ByteDance’s accounts, although surely with negotiation in between and millionaire figures such as these 20 million dollars per month, it will have been easier to reach an agreement for TikTok to use its AI models to become one of the most important customers of the business.
What is not too clear and no one can explain why OpenAI now allows TikTok to access its models without limitation, when it is known that it uses them to develop its own LLM in violation of the terms of service. Perhaps it is because a powerful gentleman is Mr. Money, and with such figures it costs a little more to suspend their accounts without first negotiating access to the service and how far they can use it. That is precisely what has not transpired.
It is certainly curious but we cannot speculate too much without reliable information, so we stay with the news and we will wait to see more movements… What do you think?
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