ByteDance is selling TikTok's AI platform to other companies

The artificial intelligence (AI) technology that powers the popular social media platform TikTok has been put on sale by parent company ByteDance.

The Beijing-based company has spun off a new division called BytePlus with the aim of reportedly selling TikTok’s AI-powered tech to customers looking to replicate the video sharing platform's success in their ecommerce apps and services.

According to the Financial Times, BytePlus only launched in June 2021, but already has several clients around the world, including US-based fashion app Goat, an Indonesian online shopping start-up, a Singaporean travel booking site, and a social gaming platform in India.

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Tech for sale

TikTok’s recommendation algorithm is often credited as the crucial ingredient behind the platform’s success and immense worldwide popularity.

According to details shared by the company last year, the algorithm studies users’ interactions with the app to suggest appropriate videos, keeping them hooked on to the platform.

It isn’t hard to imagine why ecommerce platforms would want to roll some of TikTok’s AI into their respective platforms. The FT reports that BytePlus offers businesses the opportunity to customize TikTok’s recommendation engine for their apps and services.

Digging around on LinkedIn led the FT to six-year ByteDance veteran, Tianyi He, who is listed as the head of BytePlus, which is headquartered in Singapore.

The company is also said to be recruiting staff from enterprise technology companies including Microsoft and IBM, according to employees’ LinkedIn profiles.