ByteDance, the Chinese tech giant behind TikTok, has canceled plans to roll out its viral AI video generation tool SeaDance 2.0 globally, a report says, adding that this may be due to a series of legal threats from some of Hollywood’s most powerful studios. A report in The Information (via Reuters), citing two people with direct knowledge of the situation, claimed that the company was targeting a global launch of the model in mid-March. Those plans are currently on hold.
What is Seadance 2.0?
Seedance 2.0 is ByteDance’s most advanced AI video generation model. Process data in multiple formats, including text, images, audio, and video, simultaneously to produce high-quality video content at a fraction of traditional production costs. The AI model quickly became a global sensation after realistic AI-generated videos were shared on social media. Comparisons were also made to Chinese AI company DeepSeek. DeepSeek’s model, comparable to those of Anthropic and OpenAI, stunned the industry and wiped billions of dollars from Nvidia’s market cap in a single day. Celebrities in the tech world, including Elon Musk, have praised Seadance 2.0’s ability to generate cinematic storylines from just a few text prompts.
AI video that received a “warning” from Hollywood studios
One of Bytedance’s AI-generated videos garnered a lot of attention. A user-generated clip of people resembling Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt brawling on a rooftop went viral in China, demonstrating how Seedance 2.0 can convincingly recreate the look and feel of Hollywood productions. Seedance 2.0 was trained on a vast library of copyrighted characters and content that could be copied without permission.This resulted in prompt legal responses from multiple angles. Disney acted first, sending ByteDance a cease-and-desist letter accusing the company of using characters from franchises like Star Wars and Marvel to train and enhance Seedance 2.0 without permission. Disney claimed that ByteDance pre-packaged the model with a “pirated library” of copyrighted characters and depicted them as if they were public domain clip art.Paramount followed this up with its own cease-and-desist letter, further increasing legal pressure on ByteDance from the traditional film industry. Then along came Netflix. In perhaps the sharpest of the three letters, the streaming giant described Seedance 2.0 as a “fast piracy engine” that can reproduce copyrighted content at scale.
ByteDance opinion
ByteDance acknowledged the controversy in a statement, saying the company “respects intellectual property rights” and “heard the concerns regarding SeaDance 2.0.”A spokesperson previously said: “We are taking steps to strengthen our current safeguards to prevent unauthorized use of our intellectual property and likeness by our users.”
