ByteDance co‑founder Zhang Yiming told employees to steer clear of using model distillation to improve AI systems, prioritising long‑term innovation over short‑term competitive gains. The move reflects mounting tensions between Chinese and U.S. AI firms and the broader debate over the ethics and regulation of AI model training.
ByteDance founder tells staff to avoid AI distillation, The Paper reports FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: The logo of Chinese company Moonshot AI is displayed alongside its Kimi app on a mobile phone, in this illustration picture taken July 24, 2026.
REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File Photo/File PhotoBEIJING, Aug 6 - ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming has told the Chinese internet giant's staff to avoid improving its AI models by distilling rival systems, even at the expense of some short-term gains, China's state-backed outlet The Paper reported on Thursday. Known as model distillation, the method uses the outputs of a powerful AI system to train or improve a smaller model and has become a flashpoint in an intensifying tech race between China and the United States.
• Zhang told a recent internal ByteDance meeting that AI development requires"long-termism and delayed gratification, rather than using others' output to achieve short-term leaderboard rankings," The Paper said, citing sources within the company. • ByteDance should be willing to"sacrifice some short-term gains for long-term goals," Zhang told the company's Seed AI research team, according to the report. Zhang says AI distillation interferes with genuine long-term technological breakthroughs, The Paper said.
• There's fierce competition among Chinese developers to push out cheaper and more powerful AI models. • Washington and leading U.S. AI firms have accused Chinese rivals of using the distillation technique to extract capabilities from proprietary models. • U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has warned that Chinese companies could face financial sanctions or placement on U.S. trade blacklists, while Beijing accused Washington of"AI hegemonism" and threatened countermeasures.
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