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TikTok Joins Conversational AI Race, Now Trialing Tako In-App
TikTok, the short video content social media offshoot of Chinese technology firm ByteDance is reportedly conducting test trials for its in-app Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot named Tako. As reported by TechCrunch, the public became aware of the testing through AI intelligence firm Watchful.ai after which they were also confirmed by TikTok.
The development of user friendly artificial intelligence chatbot is becoming a major push for platforms around the world today. This new trend in AI was pioneered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, with many tech companies now designing their own customized versions for their audience in order to tag along with the evolution.
TikTok’s Tako comes well suited for the platform with experiences designed to keep users even more glued to the app.
“Being at the forefront of innovation is core to building the TikTok experience, and we’re always exploring new technologies that add value to our community,” a TikTok spokesman told TechCrunch. “In select markets, we’re testing new ways to power search and discovery on TikTok, and we look forward to learning from our community as we continue to create a safe place that entertains, inspires creativity and drives culture.”
The Tako testing has been launched in a number of markets including the Philippines and despite the feature being available in iOS hosted TikTok apps, the test is currently not available to the platform’s US customers.
The Tako AI tool can make suggestions about videos to watch when prompted, a feature that is designed to help users save time they will naturally spend surfing through the application. When such search queries are keyed in, Tako returns the best matching suggestions, alongside other details like the name, author and subject of the video. Through the displayed information, users will now be able to proceed to watch the video.
TikTok AI Move: Threat to Competitors
There have been a lot of conversations about the regulations of AI technology such that it can help build healthy competition first on a regional level, and then globally. There are projections that the TikTok AI product will serve as a major threat to top search engine providers like Google owned by Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL).
The concern is the rate at which Gen Z are now turning to TikTok and Instagram on subjects relating to search is growing, and with more advanced AI tools like Tako, the odds may further be tilted into the former’s favor.
Despite the future fears being nursed, TikTok said it is still building out the responses and feedbacks from the AI. It is learning from the data being gathered by Tako to train the algorithm to maintain additional accuracy. This approach has sparked concerns about privacy as data will have to be saved first before being used again.
To allay these fears, TikTok has made it possible for users to manually delete their chats with Tako, an approach that has been employed by other social media platforms in the past.
TikTok Joins Conversational AI Race, Now Trialing Tako In-App
