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TikTok Owner Uses ChatGPT to Create Its Own AI

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Global Recap
December 20, 2023 • Read in: 9 minutes

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Hi Global Recap readers,

ChatGPT isn’t just popular in the US.

In fact, TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, stands accused of covertly using ChatGPT’s API to craft a rival Large Language Model (LLM).

Surprised?

🌐 Around the world:

  • Xi warns Biden of his reunification plan.

  • Poland suspends TV channel.

  • Trump: Banned.

  • US-Venezuela prisoner swap.

  • TikTok owner uses ChatGPT to create its own AI.

Let’s get into today’s news.

🇨🇳 Xi’s Plan to Take Taiwan

Remember the recent summit in San Francisco between Xi and Biden in November?

Some were expecting some major announcements as a result of it, but they were quickly disappointed by much of what was old news.

Well, today we are getting reports that Xi bluntly told Biden that he will “reunify” Taiwan with mainland China.

  • Timing. Xi told Biden that the predictions of US military leaders of potential aggression by 2025 or 2027 are wrong. He said there is no timeline set.

  • Method. Also, Xi claims he wants to “reunify” through “peaceful” means. This could mean diplomacy, but most likely it is through a similar process to that used in Hong Kong - having a China-friendly leader in office to push for closer ties with China.

📺 Poland Suspends TV Channel

Poland’s new government, led by PM Donald Tusk, has pulled the plug on a public news channel to ensure media impartiality.

The move triggered a tense standoff, with opposition MPs barricading themselves inside the TV headquarters - prompting a police intervention.

  • Context. This is part of Tusk’s larger reform agenda, challenging the previous nationalist party’s grip on state media since coming to power in 2015.

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🚫 Trump: Banned

Donald Trump, during his speech on January 6, 2021.

Colorado’s Supreme Court drops a bombshell: Trump can’t run in 2024, citing the 14th Amendment’s ban on insurrectionists.

  • The ruling. The 4-3 split decision ejects him from Colorado’s GOP primary ballot but the Trump campaign is reportedly appealing to the US Supreme Court for the final say.

  • Insurrection? The insurrection that is alluded to here is regarding Trump’s actions on January 6, 2021.

  • Speech Fallout: The Colorado judiciary has ruled that Trump’s speech on January 6 does not fall under the protection of the First Amendment.

“No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”

Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment

🇺🇸🇻🇪 US-Venezuela Prisoner Swap

Venezuelan President Maduro embraces Alex Saab.

The Biden administration has swapped Alex Saab, a key ally of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, for 10 jailed Americans + a fugitive contractor.

  • Arrest: Saab was nabbed in 2020 for money laundering.

  • Fat Leonard: The fugitive contractor being returned to the US is Leonard “Fat Leonard” Francis - the man behind a massive US Navy bribery scandal. As a Malaysian defense contractor, he bribed US Navy officials with luxury perks, inflating Navy bills for ship supplies and fake services at his Southeast Asian ports.

China

TikTok Owner Uses ChatGPT to Create Its Own AI

ByteDance, the tech giant behind TikTok, faces accusations of secretly using ChatGPT to build its own AI for the Chinese market. OpenAI, the company behind the creation of ChatGPT, has suspended ByteDance’s developer account for allegedly breaching terms of service.

🔍 Investigation. Alex Heath, the deputy editor for The Verge, has access to internal ByteDance documents that suggest the company utilized ChatGPT extensively to “develop its foundational LLM, codenamed Project Seed, during nearly every phase of development, including for training and evaluating the model.

📚 Policy Violation. OpenAI’s policies prohibit the use of their AI to "develop models that compete with OpenAI.” This rule is echoed by Microsoft, which also provides API* access to ByteDance.

*An Application Programming Interface (API) is like a translator that helps different computer programs talk to each other. It offers services to other software pieces, making it easier for them to interact and share information.

🚫 Forbidden Use Exposed. ByteDance employees reportedly sought to hide their ChatGPT usage through "data desensitization." Despite an internal stop order, the service continued to be used, even to assess the performance of Doubao, ByteDance’s generative AI bot.

📜 ByteDance’s Stance. ByteDance insists on its adherence to OpenAI’s terms, claiming that its engineers only use the ChatGPT API to a "very limited extent during the evaluation/testing process.”

🌐 Global Tech Rivalry Heats Up. AI is a battleground in the US-China tech race. Beijing aims for a 50% boost in computing power by 2025, aspiring for AI supremacy by decade’s end. In response, the US has imposed an export ban on advanced chips to China, such as Nvidia’s A800 and H800 chips.