ByteDance adds AI assistant to office tool Feishu, joining rivals Tencent and Alibaba in workplace chatbot race

ByteDance, the company behind the popular app TikTok, has introduced a new version of its work collaboration tool called Feishu 7. This tool is now powered by artificial intelligence (AI), which is designed to help businesses in China automate their work. Feishu's CEO, Xie Xin, announced that AI is transforming the workplace and it's essential for companies to adapt quickly to this new era. Feishu 7 includes features similar to ChatGPT, which are based on large language models (LLMs). These models can summarize meetings, sort through messages, and analyze different types of documents. The AI can also assist in creating various work documents, such as emails and spreadsheets. Xie demonstrated how he could request a spreadsheet for inventory management from the AI, which could be customized further. He believes that introducing LLMs should be like adding a highly intelligent team member who can multitask and continuously improve. Users can select from different LLMs for their Feishu AI assistant, including those from MiniMax, Zhipu AI, and Baichuan. Several Chinese companies are already using Feishu to enhance their productivity, particularly in sales and marketing. Major tech companies see the integration of AI into office software as an opportunity to expand the technology's use. Microsoft is incorporating its GPT-powered Copilot into various products, while Tencent and Alibaba are embedding their AI models into their office tools, with Tencent using Hunyuan and Alibaba using Tongyi Qianwen, competing directly with Feishu.