ByteDance 'big discounts' AI to compete in China

(CLO) ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, is stepping up competition in China's artificial intelligence (AI) market by introducing a series of product updates and deep discounts for a new AI model capable of "visually understanding" images, text and physical objects, providing advanced reasoning capabilities.

Tan Dai, president of ByteDance's cloud unit Volcano Engine, revealed at a company event on December 19 that the new AI model has an extremely competitive price of only 0.003 yuan per thousand tokens.

This is 85% lower than the industry average, allowing users to spend just 1 yuan to process up to 284 high-definition images. Tokens are the standard payment unit when using AI models via application programming interfaces (APIs).

The extremely low price and powerful visual recognition capabilities of ByteDance's new AI model are the company's move to continue fierce competition with other tech giants such as Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent, as companies race to cut prices and offer free or low-cost AI services to attract customers.

ByteDance's Doubao app on mobile. Photo: GI

ByteDance is leveraging Doubao’s affordable price point and powerful cognitive capabilities to open up a wide range of applications in industries such as education , e-commerce, tourism, logistics, and transportation, according to Tan Dai. ByteDance’s chatbot, Doubao, has become China’s most popular, with 60 million monthly active users as of last month.

ByteDance also announced new versions of its ecosystem's AI products. The premium version, Doubao Pro, brings powerful improvements in mathematics, reasoning, coding, and expertise, while the new Doubao Music version can generate complete three-minute tracks.

Tan Dai also confirmed that ByteDance is aiming to become the leading AI company in China. In an interview before the event, Tan shared: "The current technology revolution is about AI and big language models. Our goal is to be number one in the region and we are moving towards that."

With these moves, ByteDance is making efforts not only in developing cutting-edge AI technology but also in creating attractive pricing strategies to strengthen its position in China's fiercely competitive AI market.

Ngoc Anh (according to SCMP, Tech in Asia)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/cong-ty-me-cua-tiktok-dai-ha-gia-ai-de-canh-tranh-o-trung-quoc-post326655.html