Zhang Yiming Says ByteDance’s Seed Team Won’t Rely on AI Distillation · TechNode

ByteDance bans distillation from its AI playbook, betting everything on homegrown data

ByteDance's Seed refuses knowledge distillation, building proprietary models instead of copying from US labs—rare in China. The move hedges geopolitical risk and creates defensible IP; signals emerging independent US-China AI stacks.