China’s new AI video model has flooded the internet with copyrighted content and caused such a backlash that its owner ByteDance has pledged to “strengthen current safeguards.”
Last week, Seedance 2.0 made waves in the tech world as one of the most advanced video models ever released, competing directly with the likes of OpenAI’s Sora 2, Google’s Veo 3.1, and Kuaishou’s Kling 3.0.
Announced last week as the latest version of ByteDance’s AI video generation model, Seedance 2.0 is now available primarily to users in mainland China through the Jimeng AI app. Although not yet officially available outside of China, it will soon be integrated into ByteDance’s CapCut, a popular video editor for TikTok users around the world.
Beijing-based ByteDance also owns the global version of TikTok. The U.S. version of the popular short-form video app is now majority-owned by U.S. investors, but ByteDance retained a portion of its stake.
Around the same time as the model’s release, Seedance began trending online, with user-generated videos eliciting a mix of surprise and concern on platforms like X and Reddit. A clip of Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise getting into a fist fight, which shows the two arguing about Jeffrey Epstein, has been viewed more than 3.2 million times on X.
According to Irish filmmaker Ruairi Robinson, who shared the clip, another version of the fight was generated with just a “two-line prompt.” “Deadpool” screenwriter Rhett Reese expressed his concerns online, and responded with “I don’t want to say it. We’re probably done.”
In a follow-up post, Reese clarified that he is “afraid” of increasing AI “intrusions.”[ment] Engage in creative endeavors. ”
“The video of Pitt vs. Cruz surprised me because it was so professional. That’s exactly why I’m scared,” Reese wrote. “My glass-half-empty view is that Hollywood is undergoing a revolution and is about to go down. If you really thought the Pitt vs. Cruise video was memorable and awful, there’s nothing to worry about. But I’m upset.”
The launch of Seedance 2.0 and the immediate panic it sparked in the film and television industry led to what some online describe as Hollywood’s “deep-seeking moment.”
Deep Seek, a large-scale Chinese language model, sent Silicon Valley stocks crashing last year after outperforming major U.S. AI companies on multiple benchmarks. Now, Chinese video models are raising similar concerns in the world of AI video, both for the relative sophistication of their output and for their ability to churn out content that in some cases appears to use copyrighted material.
One AI content creator shared a side-by-side comparison of a clip from the 2025 movie “F1” and a near-exact copy produced by Seadance, claiming that the AI model “recreated the most expensive shot…for 9 cents.” Others shared a number of clips that appeared to feature copyrighted intellectual property, including characters from the One Piece and Dragon Ball anime series, the League of Legends-based anime series Arcane, and characters from the classic martial arts Ip Man.
Actor Scott Adkins appears to be able to see himself in a video created by SeaDance of a man running away from a crowd.
“I don’t remember shooting this! I definitely must have accidentally forgotten 🤔,” he replied in an X post.
Shortly after the model’s launch, Charles Rivkin, president and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, slammed Seadance 2.0 as “offensive.”[ing] Unauthorized use of a U.S. copyrighted work on a large scale. ”
“By launching its service without meaningful protections against copyright infringement, ByteDance is ignoring established copyright laws that protect the rights of creators and support millions of American jobs,” Rivkin said in a statement. “ByteDance should immediately cease its infringing activities.”
Disney and Paramount Skydance have also reportedly issued cease-and-desist letters to ByteDance, accusing the company of infringing copyrighted works. (NBC News has not reviewed the letter, but a source familiar with the matter confirmed Axios’ report that Disney issued the cease-and-desist order.)
Disney and Paramount did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside of normal business hours.
ByteDance told NBC News in an email that the company is addressing the concerns.
“ByteDance respects intellectual property rights and has heard your concerns regarding SeaDance 2.0,” the spokesperson wrote. “We are taking steps to strengthen our current safeguards to prevent unauthorized use of our intellectual property and likeness by our users.”
The statement came after the actors union SAG-AFTRA similarly condemned “blatant violations enabled by Bytedance’s new AI video model Seedance 2.0.”
“This violation includes the unauthorized use of members’ voices and likenesses. This is unacceptable and undermines the ability of human talent to earn a living,” SAG-AFTRA wrote. “Seedance 2.0 ignores fundamental principles of law, ethics, industry standards, and consent. Responsible AI development requires accountability, and that is not present here.”
The Human Artistry Campaign, a global coalition of more than a dozen organizations representing creatives, also called the launch of SeaDance 2.0 “an attack on all creators around the world.” In a statement on social media, it called on authorities to “use every legal tool at our disposal to stop this massive theft.”
The controversy is reminiscent of concerns that erupted during last fall’s launch of OpenAI’s Sora 2, which allowed users to generate caricatures of copyrighted characters from James Bond to Pikachu to Nintendo’s Mario and Luigi. Within months, Disney signed a three-year agreement with OpenAI that allowed Sora to use its IP.
