Sources: Tencent founder Pony Ma says in his annual speech that he is willing to deploy half of the company's 100,000-strong workforce to AI-native businesses (Bloomberg)

ByteDance, the creator of the popular short-form video app TikTok, is set to unveil an AI assistant similar to Meta's Muse in the coming weeks. This move aims to bolster ByteDance's position in AI video technology and narrow the gap with leading U.S. labs such as Anthropic and OpenAI. During a recent all-hands meeting, ByteDance co-founder Zhang Yiming revealed the company's plans and outlined key priorities for the project.

While ByteDance believes it can compete with industry giants, it cautioned that achieving this level of advancement would take until at least 2029 or 2030. The new AI agent will mimic Muse, Meta's voice-based assistant with an animated avatar, which has been well received by users. Muse is integrated into Meta's hardware lineup, including smart glasses and an upcoming device specifically designed for the agent.

However, it remains uncertain whether ByteDance will also develop accompanying hardware for its AI assistant.