TikTok owner ByteDance on Wednesday released an update to its flagship AI model aimed at challenging Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s latest reasoning model products, as a global race intensified to create AI models capable of tackling complex problems.

As TikTok faces uncertainty and mounting pressure in the US, its parent company ByteDance plans an ambitious $12 billion investment in artificial

But the model is only meant to be used within China’s mainland, a ByteDance spokesperson told TechCrunch. The e-reader’s China-based manufacturer, Onyx International, which sells Boox e-readers in both China and to the U.

ByteDance is placing a big bet on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure as the TikTok parent plans to spend more than $12 billion on AI in 2025, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing sources.