ByteDance Internal Memo: AI Coding Tools Like Cursor to Be Phased Out, Replaced by In-House Trae

CNBC AI News – In a move signaling a stronger push for internal control over its AI development tools, ByteDance’s security and risk management department has issued a directive set to reshape its internal software landscape.

Starting June 30th, the tech giant will begin a phased internal ban on third-party AI development software, citing concerns over potential data leakage risks. This includes popular tools like Cursor and Windsurf.

The decision underscores ByteDance’s growing emphasis on data security and its strategy to foster a more self-contained ecosystem.

This transition will see ByteDance’s proprietary programming assistant, Trae, take center stage as the primary AI-driven coding support tool. The move is a clear indication of the company’s commitment to both data security and bolstering its in-house AI capabilities.

ByteDance launched both international and domestic versions of Trae in January and March of this year, respectively.

The domestic version of Trae has been lauded as “China’s first AI-native integrated development environment (AI IDE)” by industry observers.

Trae boasts a suite of powerful features including AI-powered question answering, code completion, and agent-based AI programming capabilities. It aims to automate development tasks for programmers and, in certain projects, facilitate end-to-end development, enabling users to generate complete code projects simply from a query.

Available in both Simplified Chinese and English, Trae integrates free access to leading models like GPT-4o and Claude-3.5-Sonnet.

The overseas version of Trae also recently rolled out a paid subscription plan, offering a Pro version at a monthly rate of $3 per month.