The famous 15-second video platform helping thousands of content creators gain popularity through millions of viral views, TikTok is testing its own chatbot named Tako. Among the incredible rise of usage of Artificial Intelligence throughout the world, applications like ChatGPT, Copilot assistant, Microsoft Bing AI, Google Bard and many others are few names which have become the need and essence of present times. To stay up with the race of technological advancements, TikTok isn’t far behind.
Tako is being designed in a way which promotes and recommends videos which the surfers of platform ask from it. Just like any other AI tech, this chatbot also has an ability to radically change navigation and search. According to Daniel Buchuk of Fortune 500 companies said that Tako is positioned above the TikTok profile icon, located to the right of a video. When tapped, it reveals a chat screen where a bot is present to handle various inquiries. The specific AI model employed by TikTok to operate Tako remains uncertain.
In layman terms he further explained that,
“If I’m watching food videos and ask for a recipe I’ll get related TikTok videos for the recipe, or if I ask for good art exhibitions in Paris it’ll show videos alongside a list of suggestions in the answer.”
“We’re always exploring new technologies that add value to our community,” he said in an emailed statement. “In select markets, we’re testing new ways to power search and discovery on TikTok, and we look forward to learning from our community as we continue to create a safe place that entertains, inspires creativity, and drives culture.”
Surely, It wouldn’t be the first social media app to jump on the chatbot bandwagon in recent months. In April, Snapchat made its My AI bot available to everyone for free, and Mark Zuckerberg recently told Meta investors that he wants to “introduce AI agents to billions of people.” We have also seen e-commerce apps like Myntra jumping onto the scene with “My Stylish” AI software which designs personal recommendations about fashion.
Tako stills lies in the stage of initial testing as it is being premium tested in the Philippines and some other global markets, but as mentioned above about its testing stages that it is not available in the U.S.. At present, the extent of data retention or privacy measures associated with the chatbot cannot be ascertained for the long term.
