Bold Move: What TikTok Owner ByteDance Did Next
After gaining global recognition through its wildly popular TikTok app, the Chinese tech giant ByteDance is now making significant strides in the rapidly evolving artificial intelligence (AI) landscape. This shift marks a strategic move from social media to an AI-native model, positioning ByteDance as a formidable player in the global AI arena.
Despite facing years of legal and privacy-related challenges tied to TikTok, ByteDance has remained focused on innovation. The company has been actively developing cutting-edge products that could redefine how people interact with technology. Among these innovations is Doubao, China's most popular AI chatbot, which has amassed over 100 million daily users since its launch in 2023. This impressive user base places Doubao among the world’s largest AI query processors, alongside industry giants like OpenAI and Google.
Another notable achievement is the cinematic video clips generated by Seedance 2.0, which have further elevated ByteDance’s international profile. However, similar to TikTok, ByteDance’s AI services may encounter obstacles in overseas markets due to concerns about data privacy and intense competition.
Since the 2022 release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, ByteDance has recognized the growing importance of AI. CEO Liang Rubo recently stated that AI would become "an even more important application than web search." According to Charlie Dai, vice-president and principal analyst at Forrester, this shift reflects a deliberate evolution from social media to an AI-native model. Regulatory and political pressures surrounding TikTok have accelerated this pivot, he added.
- Evolving circumstances
The European Commission recently claimed that TikTok's "addictive features" violate online content rules, urging the company to make design changes or face fines of up to six percent of ByteDance’s annual global revenue. In the United States, TikTok faced threats of a total ban due to concerns about data harvesting and propaganda risks. After prolonged discussions about a potential divestiture deal, a majority-American-owned joint venture was established in January to operate TikTok’s US business, with ByteDance retaining less than 20 percent ownership.
Rocky Lee, a seller who uses TikTok and other platforms to market Chinese digital gadgets and pet products, expressed relief over the US deal. He told TUSER PARABOLA that he can now reassure other traders that they no longer need to worry about potential issues. Lee also relies on Doubao and other AI tools for tasks such as product selection, market research, and sales script-writing. “We used to have more than a dozen people in our team. Now I reckon maybe four to five people are sufficient,” he said.
ByteDance was Nvidia’s largest Chinese client in 2024 and plans to invest billions of dollars on AI microchips and infrastructure in 2026. Although Doubao may not be as well-known internationally as domestic competitors like DeepSeek and Qwen, it processes over 50 trillion tokens daily. Google handles over 1.3 quadrillion tokens monthly, equivalent to roughly 43 trillion daily.
- Big spenders
Chen Yan, an AI industry analyst at QuestMobile, described ByteDance’s focus on AI as a well-considered decision in response to evolving circumstances. “They need to seek out the next generation of productivity,” he said, noting that strong growth for TikTok is becoming increasingly difficult given its massive user base.
Shen Qiajin, founder of ideaFlow, an interactive content generation platform, highlighted ByteDance’s aggressive approach to AI. “They are taking the all-in approach with AI, and they are the most aggressive player in the market,” he said. Industry headhunter Shen Wei noted that ByteDance sometimes offers salaries two or three times the market average to attract top talent. “From a headhunter's perspective, ByteDance's advantage lies in its willingness to spend big,” he added.
Bytedance has not hidden its intention to replicate TikTok’s global success with its AI ventures. The Doubao team is led by Alex Zhu, who co-founded the lip-syncing app Musical.ly that later merged with TikTok. The app is known as Dola, previously Cici, in overseas markets. Like TikTok, ByteDance’s AI services could face concerns about data governance and geopolitical frictions, according to Forrester’s Dai.
While TikTok capitalized on an untapped niche, Western AI giants “know local regulatory frameworks and user demands better,” said QuestMobile’s Chen. Competition is also intensifying domestically, with Tencent and Alibaba running aggressive Lunar New Year promotions, driving their chatbots to the top of Apple’s free app chart.
Like many tech companies, ByteDance faces pressure to make running an AI chatbot app profitable. “The real challenge for Doubao is only coming after it has surpassed 100 million daily active users,” a Doubao staffer told Chinese tech media outlet the Late Post.
