Amid the TikTok chaos: someone added a ByteDance analyst to a US intelligence group chat

Someone made a big no-no last week, when a ByteDance researcher was mistakenly added to a group chat for American artificial intelligence safety experts.

Oh, the irony.

ByteDance, as you know, is TikTok’s parent company. TikTok is the topic of the day, since the Energy and Commerce Committee cast a unanimous 50-0 vote (highly unusual) in favor of the TikTok/ByteDance measure. Then, by a stunningly huge margin, the House passed the bill on to the Senate.

The goal is ByteDance to sell its interests in the viral short video app, or face a ban in the US. If everything goes to plan (if the bill passes and Joe Biden signs it), ByteDance will have a 165-day deadline to divest from TikTok. Should it not pass the control of TikTok to an American-based company, US app stores (like Apple's, Google's, and Samsung's) would be prohibited from offering TikTok in the country.

Now, there’s a hilarious turn of events, if you find such things funny – Reuters reports that an analyst from TikTok's parent company ByteDance was added to a chat group of American AI safety specialists.

The ByteDance researcher was included in a Slack channel meant for dialogue among participants of NIST's (National Institute of Standards and Technology) U.S. Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute Consortium, a source reported.

NIST clarified via email that this addition was made by a consortium member who thought the individual was volunteering. However, once it was discovered that the person worked for ByteDance, NIST quickly revoked their access due to a breach of the consortium's ethics regarding false representation.

The individual, listed on LinkedIn as residing in California, hasn't responded to inquiries, and ByteDance has remained silent on requests for comments.

The involvement of a ByteDance representative sparked concerns within the consortium, especially given TikTok's contentious position in U.S. discussions about potential risks of Chinese surveillance and influence.