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Tiktok Owner Bytedance Aims for Hong Kong IPO by Early 2022

The ByteDance logo is seen in this illustration taken, Nov. 27, 2019. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
The ByteDance logo is seen in this illustration taken, Nov. 27, 2019. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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Tiktok Owner Bytedance Aims for Hong Kong IPO by Early 2022

The ByteDance logo is seen in this illustration taken, Nov. 27, 2019. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
The ByteDance logo is seen in this illustration taken, Nov. 27, 2019. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

ByteDance, the Chinese owner of short video platform TikTok, has revived its plan to go public with a listing in Hong Kong by early 2022 after addressing Chinese regulators' concerns, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

ByteDance is planning to list in either the fourth quarter of this year or in early 2022, the FT reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

"We are expecting final guidance from ByteDance in September. They are submitting all the filings with Chinese authorities right now and are going through the review process," the newspaper quoted a source as saying.

However, a ByteDance spokesperson told Reuters that the FT report was not accurate. The spokesperson declined to provide more details, Reuters reported.

Beijing-based BytDance said in April that it had no imminent plans for an initial public offering (IPO).

Chinese regulators have stepped up their scrutiny of the tech sector in recent months. The FT report said ByteDance has been working on addressing data security concerns raised by regulators.

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Google, Volkswagen Partner on Smartphone AI Assistant

People walk next to a Google logo during a trade fair in Hannover Messe, in Hanover, Germany, April 22, 2024. (Reuters)
People walk next to a Google logo during a trade fair in Hannover Messe, in Hanover, Germany, April 22, 2024. (Reuters)
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Google, Volkswagen Partner on Smartphone AI Assistant

People walk next to a Google logo during a trade fair in Hannover Messe, in Hanover, Germany, April 22, 2024. (Reuters)
People walk next to a Google logo during a trade fair in Hannover Messe, in Hanover, Germany, April 22, 2024. (Reuters)

Alphabet’s Google is providing key capabilities for an artificial intelligence assistant for Volkswagen drivers in a smartphone app, part of Google's strategy to win business by offering tools to build enterprise AI applications.

Consumers can ask Volkswagen's in-app assistant questions like "How do I change a flat tire?" or point their phone cameras at vehicle dashboards to receive relevant information.

The AI assistant draws on Google's Gemini large language models, programs that can understand and generate predictive responses to human language, and cloud computing capacity. The VW tool was designed by adding data such as Volkswagen owner’s manuals and YouTube videos on vehicle maintenance to Gemini.

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian told Reuters that the product required overcoming technical hurdles to multimodality, the ability to process different data types such as text, images and videos.

"The problem looks superficially simple, but it’s technically very complex," Kurian said. "Most people think what we built is a speech-to-text translation system that then looks up a manual. Absolutely not."

The AI assistant is free and available to about 120,000 owners of Volkswagen’s Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport models. It will roll out by early next year to other cars from model year 2020 and later.

Corporate adoption of generative AI could alter the lucrative cloud computing market, where Google places third in terms of market share behind Amazon and Microsoft . Most companies are still searching for applications that users will find practical.

Cloud computing is a growing business segment for Google, accounting for $33 billion of the firm's $307 billion in overall revenue in 2023.

AI solutions have driven billions in revenue this year, the company has said, though it declined to disclose more precise figures.

Volkswagen declined to give details about usage for its AI assistant so far.