ByteDance is reportedly developing a new AI model that may rival the scale of Anthropic’s advanced Mythos system, in a bid to close the gap with leading U.S. AI companies.
The Chinese tech giant is training an AI model with up to 10 trillion parameters, making it about three times larger than Moonshot‘s Kimi K3, currently China’s largest released AI model. The project is still in its early stages, reported the Financial Times.
ByteDance’s AI model is currently in pre-training, a process that usually lasts three to six months. Its final size will be decided later, before potential fine-tuning and release if development progresses successfully, as per the report.
The TikTok parent has quietly advanced its AI efforts, keeping most models private compared with other Chinese rivals. Its SeeDance video generation model is considered one of the world’s most advanced, while its consumer AI assistant Doubao leads China’s market with 324 million monthly active users.
ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming has urged the company’s AI team to focus on building a world-class model through independent development rather than chasing short-term competition. He believes long-term innovation is the key to surpassing rivals and has told the Seed team not to worry about temporary setbacks, according to the publication.
ByteDance did not immediately respond to Benzinga’s request for comments.
China’s AI Race Goes Bigger
ByteDance developing a massive AI model highlights China’s goal of moving beyond catching up with U.S. AI leaders to potentially surpass them.
Recent Chinese models from companies like Moonshot and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd – ADR (NYSE:BABA)‘s latest Qwen3.8-Max have performed strongly on benchmarks, trailing only Anthropic’s Fable 5 in some areas. Meanwhile, Anthropic’s most advanced model, Mythos 5, remains restricted to approved organizations following temporary security-related limits.
Several Chinese AI labs are reportedly developing extremely large models comparable to Fable 5, with ByteDance leading the race to build the biggest and most ambitious system. Notably, Anthropic has not revealed the exact size of its AI models, but estimates suggest its top-tier Mythos 5 model has around 8 trillion parameters, while Fable 5 may have about 5 trillion parameters.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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