The Chinese company that owns TikTok confirmed that it fired an intern who sabotaged an artificial intelligence project but downplayed the cost and extent of the damage.

In a statement posted Saturday on its social media website Toutiao, Beijing-based ByteDance said the unidentified intern "maliciously interfered" with AI research being conducted by one of its teams.

But the privately held company disputed what it called an "online rumor" that it suffered millions of dollars in losses as a result, saying that claim was "grossly exaggerated."

ByteDance also denied that intern had disrupted an AI training system involving more than 8,000 graphics processing units, or GPUs, the BBC reported.

GPUs are electronic circuits that can perform high-speed mathematical calculations and are used for tasks that include machine learning, according to Amazon Web Services.

ByteDance said that its commercial online operations, including AI systems known as large language models, weren't affected, according to the BBC.

The company is investing heavily in AI, which it uses to operate its Doubao chatbot and other applications, including a text-to video tool, the BBC said.

ByteDance's acknowledgement of the sabotage reportedly came in response to comments posted recently on social media.

It said that the intern was fired in August and that it told the intern's school and relevant industry groups about the incident.