ByteDance has begun selling the artificial intelligence that powers its blockbuster TikTok app to other companies outside China, the Financial Times reported.
The Financial Times reported that BytePlus, the operation selling the technology, states on its website that customers include fashion app Goat, Singaporean travel site WeGo, Indonesian online shopping site Chilibeli and TikTok itself.
The Financial Times article states, in part: “BytePlus offers businesses the chance to tap some of TikTok’s secret ingredient: the algorithm that keeps users scrolling by recommending them videos that it thinks they will like. They can use this technology to personalize their apps and services for their customers.”
BytePlus’s website appears to indicate the product is called “BytePlus Recommend.”
BytePlus, on its website, describes the offering: “The intelligent recommendation service relies on world-leading large-scale machine learning and the personalized recommendation technique of ByteDance with ability accumulation in various fields like news information, live video, social contact, and eCommerce. We provide customized recommendation algorithm services for cooperation partners, continuously improving core business indexes and creating values through algorithm capacity. “
According to the Financial Times, BytePlus also is selling language translation software for text and speech, “real-time video effects” software and tools for data analysis.
The Financial Times reported that six-year ByteDance veteran Tianyi He is the head of BytePlus’s operation in Singapore. The nine LinkedIn members who list BytePlus as an employer give locations in Singapore, Nigeria and San Francisco.
The main competitors for BytePlus, according to the Financial Times, appear to be Amazon Web Services, Google, IBM and Microsoft — as well as China’s Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent.
ByteDance is reportedly gearing up for an initial public offering.
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