TikTok Parent Company ByteDance Releases Generative AI Chatbot Dou Bao in China

ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, has launched Dou Bao, a generative conversational AI app in China. The app features different characters and personalities, offering text and image-based conversational styles for users. Dou Bao aims to compete with other Chinese companies, such as Baidu and Alibaba, in the generative AI space.

Dou Bao Grace

Dou Bao is now available as an Android app, with web access, and an iOS app is currently in development. The app provides text and image-based conversational abilities similar to ChatGPT, and users can access it without an invite code. ByteDance aims to tap into the burgeoning AI-generated content market, which is projected to be worth over a trillion dollars in the next decade. Dou Bao offers various AI personas for different functions, including an assistant, an English teacher, a writing aide, and a social bot. Users can engage in multilingual conversations and create content using natural language. The app also provides voice playback to read answers aloud.

ByteDance claims that the AI in Dou Bao will adapt to users and improve its ability to comment on their interests. The company suggests that the app could be used for tasks like research and social media post creation. With more than 1.5 billion users worldwide, ByteDance has a vast amount of data to utilize for its AI and a significant user base to compete with its rivals.

TikTok Time?

Although ByteDance does not mention it in the announcement, integrating Dou Bao with TikTok seems like a logical future step for the generative AI technology. In fact, there are indications that such a project is already underway. A generative AI chatbot named Tako was recently discovered on TikTok, serving as a tool for content discovery. However, this feature is currently only available to some users in the Philippines. TikTok has clarified that Tako uses a third-party generative AI model, while Dou Bao was developed in-house by ByteDance.

ByteDance has been actively incorporating generative AI features into TikTok. It recently tested synthetic image generation for user avatars and introduced a text-to-image AI Greenscreen filter for translating text into background images. The company’s generative AI avatar tool generates up to 30 options daily based on uploaded photos and user-selected style choices.

Conclusion

ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, has launched Dou Bao, a generative conversational AI app in China. Dou Bao competes with other Chinese companies in the generative AI space, providing various AI personas for different functions. ByteDance aims to tap into the growing AI-generated content market. While ByteDance has not mentioned integrating Dou Bao with TikTok, there are indications that such a project is already in progress. ByteDance has been actively incorporating generative AI features into TikTok, such as synthetic image generation and a text-to-image AI Greenscreen filter.