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September 19, 2024 β 01:18
Investment Research Team
ByteDance is exploring further integration of its large language models (LLMs) with various types of hardware, such as AI glasses and smart headphones, aiming to transform its in-house AI capabilities into user-centric hardware products, according to Chinese media reports.
The Chinese social media giant and owner of TikTok is working on both its own in-house developed AI hardware and collaborating with external hardware companies to expand its offerings. In the latter case, ByteDance would be exporting its in-house AI capabilities as a provider, similar to the collaboration between OpenAI and Apple.
Since the first half of this year, ByteDance’s Doubao large language model has been gradually collaborating with multiple hardware manufacturers, opening up Doubao’s capabilities to various hardware makers. At the Volcano Engine FORCE conference in May, ByteDance showcased three AI hardware collaboration products, including a robotic dog, a learning device, and a learning robot.
The AI hardware effort is being led by a team currently developing smart headphones connected with ByteDance’s Doubao large-scale AI model, which is speculated to be the first product from ByteDance’s AI hardware team that users could see.
These headphones will incorporate the Doubao model and will be integrated with the Doubao app, a conversational AI application that ByteDance launched in August 2023. With these smart headphones, users can interact with Doubao via voice at any time, and the headphones can also be controlled through the Doubao app.
ByteDance is also exploring AI glasses, which may involve investing in a new company or establishing an internal team. A new team may have been formed from the AI model team to collaborate within ByteDance on AI glasses development.
Furthermore, ByteDance’s AI hardware efforts include integrating the Doubao model with other mobile manufacturers’ smart assistants. Doubao has already established partnerships with Xiaomi, OPPO, Vivo, and Honor smartphone brands in China.
ByteDance’s management sees the potential to transform wearable devices into generative AI service platforms. In May, ByteDance acquired the headphone manufacturer Oladance for approximately $50 million, and the team is now being integrated into ByteDance’s ecosystem.
ByteDance’s AI hardware team is primarily composed of members from companies the Chinese tech giant had acquired in the past. One of those is Dax Future Technology, a smart headphone company that launched the first-generation Oladance headphones in 2022, focusing on OWS (Open Wearable Stereo): open wireless headphones that are small enough to be worn without entering the ear.Β The team is part of ByteDance’s AI product team, Flow.
Beyond AI hardware, the Flow team at ByteDance currently manages several AI and internet applications, including the AI smart assistant Doubao, the AI intelligent development platform Kouzi (Chinese version) and Coze (international version), the image generation product Xinghui, the character dialogue products Maoxiang (formerly called Hualu) and Xiaohuangjiao, the AI education product Doubao Aixue (formerly Hippo Aixue), and the overseas education product Gauthmath.
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