US standards body says ByteDance researcher wrongly added to AI safety groupchat

A ByteDance researcher was wrongly added to a group about AI safety experts last week.

A researcher from TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance was wrongly added to a groupchat for American artificial intelligence safety experts last week, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) said Monday.

The researcher was added to a Slack instance for discussions between members of NIST's U.S. Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute Consortium, according to a person familiar with the matter.

In an email, NIST said the researcher was added by a member of the consortium as a volunteer.

"Once NIST became aware that the individual was an employee of ByteDance, they were swiftly removed for violating the consortium's code of conduct on misrepresentation," the email said.

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The researcher, whose LinkedIn profile says she is based in California, did not return messages; ByteDance did not respond to emails seeking comment.

The person familiar with the matter said the appearance of a ByteDance researcher raised eyebrows in the consortium because the company is not a member and TikTok is at the center of a national debate over whether the popular app has opened a backdoor for the Chinese government to spy on, or manipulate Americans at scale. Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to force ByteDance to divest itself of TikTok or face a nationwide ban; the ultimatum faces an uncertain path in the Senate.