ByteDance sacks intern for sabotaging AI project

I'm reminded of a time that an intern took down us-east1 on AWS, by modifying a configuration file they shouldn't have had access to. Amazon (somehow) did the correct thing and didn't fire them -- instead, they used the experience to fix the security hole. It was a file they shouldn't have had access to in the first place.

If the intern "had no experience with the AI lab", is it the right thing to do to fire them, instead of admitting that there is a security/access fault internally? Can other employees (intentionally, or unintentionally) cause that same amount of "damage"?

There is a huge difference between someone making a mistake and someone intentionally sabotaging.

You're not firing the person because they broke stuff, you are firing them because they tried to break stuff. If the attempt was a failure and caused no harm, you would still fire them. Its not about the damage they caused its that they wanted to cause damage.