ByteDance Shifts Focus from AI Chatbots to Multimodal Products: The Limitsof Intermediate AI
By [Your Name], Senior Technology Correspondent
ByteDance, the tech giant behind TikTok, is reportedly reassessing its strategy in the burgeoning AI market. Internal assessments suggest that text-based AI chatbotproducts, like its own Doubao, may have a lower-than-expected ceiling for growth and monetization. Consequently, the company is prioritizing its multi-modal AI product, Jianying Jimeng, leveraging the massive user base of its popular video editing app, Jianying.
Doubao, launched earlier this year, initially showed promising user growth, briefly rivaling competitors like Kimi and Baidu’s Ernie Bot. Recent data, however, reveals a plateau in key engagement metrics. According to sources familiar with the matter, Doubao’s daily active users (DAU) reached 7.6 million in September(as reported by LatePost), surpassing competitors, but daily usage remains limited. Users are reportedly active only 2-3 days a week, engaging in 5-6 message exchanges per day, averaging around 2 minutes per exchange, resulting in a meager 10 minutes of daily usage per user. Thesefigures, according to internal assessments, have shown minimal growth over the past year.
This stagnation isn’t unique to Doubao. Third-party data from QuestMobile indicates similar limitations across the board for text-based AI chatbots in China, with daily usage frequency hovering around 4-5 times and averagedaily usage time remaining between 5-10 minutes.
ByteDance’s internal analysis points to a potential fundamental limitation: the inherent constraints of text-based AI chatbots. The company believes these products may represent an intermediate stage in AI development, lacking the potential for sustained growth and profitability.The perceived low ceiling stems from several factors: the limited potential for a successful subscription model in the Chinese market, coupled with low engagement metrics that restrict advertising revenue opportunities. The increasing costs associated with large-scale AI inference further exacerbate these challenges.
While Doubao has rapidly integrated features like music generation, image-to-image and video generation, and visual recognition—with particularly strong voice capabilities—these additions haven’t significantly impacted core engagement metrics.
This strategic shift has led ByteDance to elevate the priority of Jianying Jimeng. Leveraging the immense popularity of Jianying, boasting over 170 million monthly activeusers globally (second only to one other app worldwide), the company aims to create a more visually engaging and user-friendly AI experience. The goal is to build an AI-powered product that mirrors the viral success of TikTok, establishing a new paradigm in the AI landscape.
ByteDance has not yet responded to requestsfor comment. However, this internal recalibration highlights the evolving understanding of the AI market, suggesting that the initial hype surrounding text-based chatbots may be giving way to a focus on more visually-driven, multi-modal applications. The future of AI, at least for ByteDance, may not be solelyabout conversation, but about a more immersive and engaging user experience.
References:
- Intelligent Emergence (智涌独家) – Internal ByteDance assessment (Source: Confidential, accessed [Date]).
- LatePost – ByteDance Doubao DAU data (Source: [Link to LatePostarticle, if available]).
- QuestMobile – Market data on AI chatbot usage in China (Source: [Link to QuestMobile report, if available]).
(Note: Replace bracketed information with actual details and links. The citation style used here is a simplified version; a formal academic paper would require amore rigorous citation format like APA or MLA.)
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