Accordingtoreportsfromself-media,HangLi,theheadofByteDance'sAILab(AILab),hasofficiallysteppeddownandtransitionedtoalabor/consultingrole.Thispersonnelchangewasforeshadowedearlier,signalingamajoradjustmentinByteDance'scoreteaminthefieldofartificialintelligence.
HangLi'spositionchangebeganonFebruary21,2025,whenYonghuiWu,formervicepresidentofGoogleDeepMind,joinedByteDanceastheheadoffundamentalresearchforthelargemodelSeed.Sincethen,asthedirectorofAILab,HangLibeganreportingtoYonghuiWu.
ItisreportedthatByteDance'sAILabwasestablishedin2016,initiallyledbyWeijingMa,theformerexecutivevicepresidentofMicrosoftResearchAsia,whodirectlyreportedtoZhangYiming,thefounderofByteDance.By2018,theteamhadgrownto150peopleandbecamethecoredepartmentofByteDance'sAIresearch.In2020,theAILabtransitionedfromagroup-levelforward-lookingprojecttoatechnicalplatform,supportingmultiplebusinessteamswithinByteDance.WeijingMa'sreportingobjectalsochangedtoZhangNan,theheadofDouyin.
Inmid-2020,afterWeijingMaleftByteDance,HangLitookoverastheheadofAILab.Sincethen,theteamhasundergoneseveralreorganizations.Startingin2023,theNLPgroupresponsibleforlargelanguagemodelsandthePixleDancegroupresponsibleforvideogenerationmodelsweretransferredtotheSeedteam.In2024,HangLibeganreportingtoWenjiaZhu,thethenheadofSeed.
ThefieldofAIisenteringanerafullofopportunitiesandchallenges,wheretechnologicalinnovation,ethicalconsiderations,andmarketcompetitionwillcollectivelyshapeitsfuturedevelopment.
