Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. reported a 75% drop in net income to RMB 10,444 million ($1.5 billion) for the quarter ending June 30, while revenue rose 9% to RMB 268,953 million ($39.6 billion), as the C…
China shipped almost 20,000 humanoid robots in 2025, fueling a new independent repair industry of 'robot doctors' who fix robots faster and cheaper, though they face challenges such as scarce custom c…
An advertisement featuring AI actress Fang Taozi endorsing colored contact lenses from Chinese brand Nutnutlook was taken down from Douyin after Chinese netizens criticized the use of a fictional char…
ByteDance has elevated AI data and safety to a top-level department, placing it on par with its core units Seed, Flow, and Douyin, according to Chinese tech media IT Home. The new department, led by f…
ByteDance has formed a new top-level AI data and safety department, led by former TikTok executive Wang Yinglei, according to a report from IT Home. The unit, which grew out of a global data team esta…
ByteDance's Doubao, its consumer AI assistant, has introduced a 12% service fee for hotel bookings made through its channel on Douyin's local-services platform, effective Aug. 10. The fee comprises an…
China's Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has drafted a law targeting AI-enabled cyberbullying, mandating real-time monitoring and removal of deepfakes and AI-generated harassment, with fines u…
A new marketplace in China allows people to rent out their faces for AI-generated content, with platforms paying $15 to $700 for likeness licenses. Over 95% of 128,000 microdramas released in China in…
A developer built an MCP server for Douyin Local Life that transforms the merchant dashboard into executable tools, enabling AI agents to perform write operations like updating product stock and verif…
TikTok is testing a managed services program in the US that will give it direct control over merchant operations including marketing, ads, and AI-generated content, charging a $10,000 flat fee plus 10…
Meta made its Business AI agent available worldwide on June 3, bundling it into WhatsApp's premium business tiers and charging large companies by the token. The agent, which answers questions, recomme…
Chinese voice actor Shen Anyu has been forced to record videos proving he is human after AI clones of his voice spread online, causing platforms to flag his real recordings as synthetic. Since 2025, t…
Older adults in China are embracing AI-generated videos that provide emotional comfort and companionship, aware the content is artificial but valuing the joy it brings. Researchers found these AI fami…
Chinese voice actor Shen Anyu has been forced to repeatedly prove he is human after AI clones of his voice spread online, causing platforms to flag his real recordings as synthetic and threatening his…
Norwegian striker Erling Haaland has become a cultural phenomenon in China, amassing over 7 million followers on Weibo and Douyin in just over a month through memes, AI edits, and the fan-created nick…
AI-generated videos and deepfake edits of soccer star Erling Haaland have gone viral during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, fueling a Solana-based meme token and surging NFT trading volumes. The phenomenon h…
A viral video of soccer star Erling Haaland reacting to his reflection in a restaurant was actually AI-generated footage of Chinese comedian Jin Long, not the real Haaland. The clip, which amassed ove…
China's Kling AI, a spin-off from Kuaishou Technology, is nearing a US$3 billion fundraising round at an US$18 billion valuation, with Tencent among the investors. The company plans to start its Hong …
ByteDance released Seed Audio 1.0, a generative audio model that produces full audio scenes with dialogue, ambient sound, and effects from a single prompt. The model uses latent diffusion and cross-mo…
ByteDance's Volcano Arc platform and Seedance AI video model are addressing the IP problem in AI video generation by licensing real actor likenesses and film assets through a revenue-sharing model. Th…