Byte Dance keeps a low profile in AI, with its flagship consumer model Doubao drawing 324 million monthly users in China. Its newest See Dance model ranks among the world’s most advanced in video generation.

Over the past three years, Byte Dance has outpaced other Chinese tech giants in AI investment, expanding data centers and doubling down on its cloud unit Volcano Engine, which sells AI solutions to enterprises. The company also aims to develop custom AI chips.

The Seed development team, led by former Google Deep Mind scientist 博彩，吴 Yonghui, numbers roughly 2,000 members in China and abroad. Seed follows an independent approach that avoids “distilling” existing models, a method that some say slows progress compared to rivals.

Founder Zhang Yiming insists that only independent development can yield world‑leading capabilities. In an internal meeting two weeks ago, he urged the Seed team to aim for “world‑leading model capabilities” long‑term, not to worry about short‑term lag.