Chinese technology giant ByteDance has vowed to add better safeguards to its viral artificial intelligence video generator SeaDance 2.0 after a clip it produced featuring American actors and performers sparked a major backlash from Hollywood.
Videos generated through Seedance 2.0 have been all the rage in China since the model was released last week, with users praising its high-quality output and ability to create cinematic storylines with just a few prompts.
in a videorapper Ye (ex-Kanye West) and ex-wife Kim Kardashian were seen singing in Mandarin.
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Another featured a brief but detailed AI-generated fight scene between Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise. “You killed Jeffrey Epstein, you son of a bitch,” Pitt told Cruise during the bloody scuffle.
Jeffrey Epstein knew too much pic.twitter.com/12u8PQH9nt
— Ruairi Robinson (@RuairiRobinson) February 11, 2026
One YouTube user also posted clip An AI caricature of actress Kristen Stewart runs through a hospital lobby trying to escape zombies while old-school Hollywood-style action music plays in the background.
Similarly, a filmmaker posted on clip The sketch, which depicts an AI caricature of comedian Larry David, was generated with just a one-line prompt, he said.
Another clip featured Star Wars actors Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman reprising their characters from the film in a sketch that ironically criticizes the global push to build more data centers to enable AI.
Seadance 2.0
Prompt: Summarize the AI debate into a meme. Please help me get 50 likes late. pic.twitter.com/09yPdo3Tjy
— Charles Curran (@charliebcurran) February 14, 2026
Switzerland-based consultancy CTOL Digital Solutions said the model “outperformed OpenAI’s Sora 2 and Google’s Veo 3.1 in practical tests.”
The group says it is “the most advanced AI video generation model available.”
“blatant infringement” of intellectual property
The level of detail in the videos produced and the model’s ability to develop dialogue and storylines without the need for complex prompts has led many users to compare Seedance and DeepSeek, China’s groundbreaking open-source AI model. A rickety Silicon Valley 1 year ago.
But in Seadance’s case, it was Hollywood that was upset.
On Friday, The Walt Disney Company sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance, accusing the Chinese company of using Disney characters in the training and development of SeaDance 2.0 without permission or compensation. Report by Axios.
Separately, Reuters reported Disney accused ByteDance of pre-packaging SeaDance with a pirated library of copyrighted characters from franchises such as Star Wars and Marvel. A person familiar with the matter told Reuters that the video generator depicted them as if they were public domain clip art.
The letter alleges Seadance was copying, distributing and creating derivative works featuring Spider-Man, Darth Vader and other characters, the people added.
within the statement To AFP And according to Reuters, ByteDance acknowledged concerns about SeaDance 2.0 and said it “respects intellectual property rights.”
“We are taking steps to strengthen our current safeguards to prevent unauthorized use of our intellectual property and likeness by our users,” the company said in a statement.
However, he did not elaborate on what measures were being taken.
“Nothing but horror.”
Variety reported that in addition to Disney, Paramount Skydance also sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance, accusing it of engaging in “blatant infringement” of intellectual property.
The Motion Picture Association of America, the main US lobbying group that represents movie studios, also accused Seadance of “massive misappropriation of US copyrighted works,” according to AFP.
MPA Chairman Charles Rivkin, who represents major companies including Disney, Universal, Warner and Netflix, said ByteDance’s new AI model “operates without any meaningful safeguards against infringement” and “should be stopped immediately.”
The American actors union SAG-AFTRA also condemned the “blatant rights violations” and unauthorized use of its members’ voices and likenesses made possible by Seedance 2.0.
Popular screenwriter Rhett Reese told the New York Times In an interview, he said that the fight scene between Pitt and Cruz, which became a hot topic of conversation, “sent a chill down my spine.”
“I think this is nothing but horrible…I can see it costing jobs here and there,” he said.
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