part time dance The company has paused the global rollout of its viral AI video generation model, Seadance 2.0, as copyright disputes with major Hollywood studios and streaming platforms intensify, people familiar with the matter said.
The tool, which can generate realistic videos from text prompts and images, quickly gained traction online by creating movie clips that resemble scenes from popular movies or feature AI-generated versions of famous actors. However, the technology has also sparked a backlash from entertainment companies who claim the system may have been trained without permission using copyrighted material.
Multiple groups accuse Seadance of infringement
Shortly after its release in China, Seedance 2.0 began attracting criticism from streaming companies. Viral content generated by AI featuring celebrity fighters has raised serious questions about the legitimacy of the model’s data.
Just last month, Disney slapped ByteDance with a suspension letter, accusing the company of illegally bundling its franchises as if they were public domain assets. Disney specifically condemned the theft of iconic figures from its vast Marvel and Star Wars universes.
“ByteDance’s effective usurpation of Disney’s intellectual property is intentional, pervasive, and completely unacceptable,” Disney attorney David Singer, a partner at Jenner & Block, said at the time. “While we believe this is just the tip of the iceberg, it is shocking considering SeaDance has only been available for a few days.”
Paramount Skydance also closes after Disney takes legal action accused ByteDance plunders libraries including South Park, Star Trek, Dora the Explorer, and The Godfather series to train ByteDance’s AI tools. A letter of cease and desist was sent to the company.
Charles Rivkin, president and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, also joined in calling for an immediate end to ByteDance’s copyright infringement. The Human Artistry Campaign branded the situation an “attack on all creators” and called on regulators to use all legal means to stop intellectual property theft. “These unauthorized deepfakes and actor voice clones violate the most fundamental aspects of personal autonomy,” the group said.
Following the backlash in February, ByteDance announced it would strengthen its protections against unauthorized use of its intellectual property and likeness.
According to reports, ByteDance has now halted plans to expand the platform to other regions. Seedance originally planned to have the tool available by mid-March. The company’s lawyers and engineers are still working to accurately identify risks and build digital “guardrails” to prevent future AI breaches.
ByteDance plans to acquire advanced Nvidia AI chips
Despite Seedance’s setback, ByteDance still plans to use advanced Nvidia AI chips to increase its computing power outside of China. The company has partnered with a Southeast Asian company that intends to acquire NVIDIA’s Blackwell chips in Malaysia for AI research and development.
The partner’s Tier 1 designation from Nvidia gives it priority access to cutting-edge chips and allows ByteDance to tap into a pipeline of hardware that cannot be purchased legally in the domestic market.
ByteDance’s decision is good news for Nvidia, which is desperate to secure as much overseas sales as possible before export quotas close. In its last earnings call, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the company was seeing significant demand for its chips.
“Enterprise adoption of agents is exploding. Our customers are competing to invest in AI computing,” he said.
The chipmaker is also pushing to unveil more products, including Vera Rubin chips. Built with 1.3 million components, Vera Rubin is designed to be 10 times more energy efficient than Grace Blackwell. At the heart of the system are 72 Rubin GPUs and 36 Vera CPUs, primarily sourced from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).
Most other parts come from different parts of the world. China, Vietnam, Thailand, Mexico, Israel, USA But analysts have expressed concern that Nvidia will struggle to meet demand for chips, especially amid soaring memory prices. Most recently, Nvidia’s head of AI infrastructure, Dion Harris, assured buyers that they were in “good standing.”
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