TikTok owner ByteDance launches low-cost Doubao AI models for enterprises, initiating a price war in crowded mainland market

TikTok owner ByteDance has commercially launched a batch of large language models (LLMs) - the technology behind ChatGPT and other generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) services - that costs less than those from industry rivals, a move that could spark a new price war in the world's second-largest economy.

The Doubao LLM family, which shares the same name as the Doubao chatbot that ByteDance introduced last year, is made up of at least eight versions. These include the top-of-the-line Doubao Pro, which can handle an input of up to 128,000 tokens, as well as the entry-level Doubao Lite and other versions specifically focused on recognising audio or creating virtual characters, the company announced at an event on Wednesday in Beijing.

Tan Dai, president of ByteDance's cloud computing services unit Volcano Engine, said at the event that use of the Doubao Pro LLM costs as low as 0.0008 yuan (0.011 US cents) per 1,000-token prompt. In AI, a token is a fundamental unit of data that is processed by algorithms, which makes 1,000 tokens equivalent to about 750 English words.

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Use of the Doubao LLMs, which launched on Wednesday via Volcano Engine, costs 99.8 per cent less than ChatGPT creator OpenAI's GPT-4 model, which is priced at 0.42 yuan per 1,000-token prompt, according to Tan.

ByteDance's icon for its Doubao large language model family. Photo: ByteDance alt=ByteDance's icon for its Doubao large language model family. Photo: ByteDance>

Meanwhile, Baidu's Ernie LLM and Alibaba Group Holding's Tongyi Qianwen each charge 0.12 yuan for every 1,000-token prompt. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

Social media giant ByteDance's aggressive pricing for its Doubao LLMs reflect the increased opportunity in mainland China's AI market, where a growing number of companies - including start-ups, Big Tech firms and state-owned enterprises - are scrambling to adopt GenAI tools to help boost their productivity and efficiency.

LLMs, which are trained on a vast amount of data, are revolutionising GenAI applications such as chatbots, virtual assistants and advanced content-generating tools like Sora. GenAI are algorithms used to create new content, including audio, code, images, text, simulations and videos.

As of January, the number of government-approved LLMs and related AI applications on the mainland total more than 40. But at present, there are more than 200 China-developed LLMs in the market, which could lead other mainland providers to compete with Baidu in a price war.

Sample code for an artificial intelligence large language model. Photo: Shutterstock alt=Sample code for an artificial intelligence large language model. Photo: Shutterstock>

ByteDance had tested its Doubao LLM family, previously code-named Skylark, internally and with selected partners for about a year, according to Volcano Engine's Tan.

Apart from that low-cost LLM initiative, ByteDance also announced on Wednesday other AI-related efforts, including an enterprise version of its Coze platform that enables users to customise chatbots.

The Beijing-based tech unicorn on Wednesday also unveiled an "intelligent device LLM alliance" with smartphone giants Samsung Electronics, Xiaomi and Honor, as well as an "automobile LLM ecosystem alliance" with local carmakers Geely and Great Wall Motor.

The sharpened focus on AI shows ByteDance's "all in" mentality to compete in this sector, a battle that the company believes it cannot afford to lose, the Post reported in February.

The logo of Alibaba Group Holding's Tongyi Qianwen large language model on a smartphone screen. Photo: Shutterstock alt=The logo of Alibaba Group Holding's Tongyi Qianwen large language model on a smartphone screen. Photo: Shutterstock>

The firm's Doubao app has amassed more than 26 million monthly active users, Alex Zhu, vice-president of ByteDance's product and strategy department, said on Wednesday.

ByteDance, however, still has a lot of catching up to do on the mainland's LLM market segment.

Alibaba last week said its LLM family Tongyi Qianwen, also known as Qwen, has been adopted by more than 90,000 corporate clients in industries ranging from consumer electronics to cars and online games.

More than 2.2 million corporate users also have access to Qwen-powered AI services through DingTalk, Alibaba's office collaboration platform, the company said.

In the broader global market, the bar for AI models remains high. OpenAI said on Monday it would release a new LLM called GPT-4o that is capable of realistic voice conversation and able to interact across texts and images, its latest move to stay ahead in a race to dominate AI technology.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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