TikTok owner ByteDance on Thursday unveiled its first earbuds, which allow users to interact directly with the company's artificial-intelligence chatbot, as tech giants compete for a foothold in AI-enabled gadgets.
The open-ear headphones, Ola Friend, function as an audio assistant when users are traveling, practicing English and listening to music, according to a product description on the official website. The launch follows ByteDance's acquisition of earphone company Oladance earlier this year.
ByteDance isn't the only company pursuing AI hardware. Facebook owner Meta Platforms recently embedded its Meta AI into smart glasses in the U.S. and Canada, enabling users to take photos, get information on what they look at, access news or ask for recommendations.
The ByteDance product's AI features are powered by Doubao, the company's large language model. Doubao's AI chatbot is China's most popular, with 47 million monthly active users in September, according to AIcpb.com, a website tracking traffic for AI applications. By comparison, Baidu's Ernie Bot app had 12.3 million monthly active users last month, according to the website.
ByteDance has made multiple forays into hardware, including acquiring consumer-electronics brand Smartisan in 2019 and virtual-reality startup Pico in 2021, though neither has become a significant money maker for the company.