TikTok is laying off hundreds of people and replacing their jobs with AI

ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, is laying off more than 700 employees in Malaysia. However, this is not like the usual layoffs that are happening because of financial losses. TikTok is replacing the roles of all these employees with artificial intelligence instead.

Most of the workers who lost their jobs were involved in checking and moderating content on TikTok. These employees were responsible for ensuring that videos followed TikTok's community guidelines. However, ByteDance is now automating this process. The company says it found that about 80% of the content that violates its guidelines can be removed automatically by AI systems. ByteDance hopes that this can make content moderation faster and more efficient.

The layoffs are not just happening in Malaysia. TikTok confirmed to Reuters that job cuts will also occur in other countries as it plans to use AI to moderate content globally.

Governments all around the world are pushing social media platforms for increased moderation on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. As more children and young adults are coming online and have access to the internet, concerns regarding their online safety have significantly grown.

The internet comes with a lot of great resources for children to study online and also helps them connect with their friends via social media. However, there are also risks that they might come across inappropriate content, cyberbullying, and encounters with online predators.

The U.S. and the U.K. also recently announced a new workgroup to make the internet safe for children. The new partnership will establish guidelines and best practices for content moderation on social media platforms. The Online Safety Bill by the U.K. is another initiative that has been implemented to improve internet safety.

A TikTok spokesperson told Reuters that the company plans to spend $2 billion this year on trust and safety initiatives globally despite the job cuts.

Via Reuters

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