(New York Times) – A set of popular apps helped China’s ByteDance develop a key component of advanced artificial intelligence: information on how a billion people use the internet.

In the United States, TikTok claims 170 million users. But in China, about 700 million use the domestic version, Douyin, and 300 million scroll the headlines on Toutiao, a news app. Every video that ByteDance’s users watch or post gives the company another data point about how people use the internet. For years, ByteDance has applied that wealth of information to make its apps more appealing, improving its ability to recommend content to keep users hooked.

ByteDance is also using the data as the linchpin of a growing business in artificial intelligence. (Read More)