What’s the story?
Hollywood is taking on SeaDance 2.0, a new artificial intelligence (AI) video model from Chinese tech giant ByteDance. The industry claims the tool has been used for “blatant” copyright infringement.
wall street journal Seedance 2.0 was released earlier this week and is now available to Chinese users of ByteDance’s Jianying app. The company says it will soon be available on the CapCut app worldwide.
Seedance 2.0 allows you to create videos using real person likenesses
Similar to OpenAI’s Sora, Seedance 2.0 allows users to create videos by simply entering text prompts. However, the tool has been criticized for allowing users to create videos with unlimited use of real-life person likenesses and studio intellectual property. This was brought to attention when one X user posted a short video of a fight between Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, claiming it was made with “a two-line prompt from Seadance 2.”
MPA demands ByteDance to stop ‘infringing activities’
The Motion Picture Association of Japan (MPA) has demanded that ByteDance “immediately cease its infringing activities.” MPA CEO Charles Rivkin said in a statement that “Chinese AI service SeaDance 2.0 carried out massive unauthorized use of U.S. copyrighted material in just one day.” He accused ByteDance of launching the service without meaningful protections against copyright infringement and ignoring established copyright laws that protect the rights of creators and support millions of jobs in the United States.
Other groups and unions in Hollywood have also condemned the AI tool.
The Human Artistry Campaign, a coalition of Hollywood unions and industry groups, denounced Seadance 2.0 as an “attack on all creators around the world.” Actors union SAG-AFTRA also condemned the blatant violation enabled by ByteDance’s new AI video model. Disney has already taken legal action against ByteDance for using its characters in SeedDance videos without permission. The company sent ByteDance a cease-and-desist letter accusing it of “effectively usurping Disney’s IP.”
