Hollywood organizations are pushing again in opposition to a brand new AI video mannequin referred to as Seedance 2.0, which they are saying has rapidly grow to be a device for “blatant” copyright infringement.
ByteDance, the Chinese language firm that not too long ago finalized a deal to promote TikTok’s U.S. operations (it retains a stake within the new three way partnership), launched Seedance 2.0 earlier this week. According to the Wall Street Journal, the up to date mannequin is at the moment accessible to Chinese language customers of ByteDance’s Jianying app, and the corporate says it’ll quickly be accessible to world customers of its CapCut app.
Much like instruments comparable to OpenAI’s Sora, Seedance permits customers to create movies (at the moment restricted to fifteen seconds in size) by simply coming into a textual content immediate. And like Sora, Seedance rapidly drew criticism for an obvious lack of guardrails across the potential to create movies utilizing the likeness of actual folks, in addition to studios’ mental property.
After one X person posted a brief video displaying Tom Cruise combating Brad Pitt, which they mentioned was created by “a 2 line immediate in seedance 2,” “Deadpool” screenwriter Rhett Reese responded, “I hate to say it. It’s probably over for us.”
The Movement Image Affiliation quickly issued a statement from CEO Charles Rivkin demanding that ByteDance “instantly stop its infringing exercise.”
“In a single day, the Chinese language AI service Seedance 2.0 has engaged in unauthorized use of U.S. copyrighted works on an enormous scale,” Rivkin mentioned. “By launching a service that operates with out significant safeguards in opposition to infringement, ByteDance is disregarding well-established copyright regulation that protects the rights of creators and underpins thousands and thousands of American jobs.”
The Human Artistry Marketing campaign — an initiative backed by Hollywood unions and commerce teams — condemned Seedance 2.0 as “an assault on each creator world wide,” whereas the actors’ union SAG-AFTRA said it “stands with the studios in condemning the blatant infringement enabled by Bytedance’s new AI video mannequin Seedance 2.0.”
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June 23, 2026
Seedance movies have apparently featured Disney-owned characters comparable to Spider-Man, Darth Vader, and Grogu, higher often called Child Yoda, prompting the corporate to take authorized motion. Axios reports that Disney has sent a cease-and-desist letter accusing ByteDance of a “digital smash-and-grab of Disney’s IP”and claiming the Chinese language firm is “hijacking Disney’s characters by reproducing, distributing, and creating spinoff works that includes these characters.”
Disney isn’t essentially against working with AI firms — whereas it has reportedly despatched a cease-and-desist letter to Google over related points, it has signed a three-year licensing take care of OpenAI.
Variety reports that Paramount adopted swimsuit by sending Bytedance a cease-and-desist letter on Saturday. The letter claimed that “a lot of the content material that the Seed Platforms produce comprises vivid depictions of Paramount’s well-known and iconic franchises and characters” and that this content material “is usually indistinguishable, each visually and audibly” from Paramount’s movies and TV exhibits.
TechCrunch has reached out to ByteDance for remark.
This publish was initially printed on February 14, 2026. It has been up to date to incorporate details about Paramount’s cease-and-desist letter.
