Hollywood’s biggest studios aren’t fooling around when it comes to AI-generated content.
After a series of TikTok videos featuring AI-created Superman, Batman, and characters from the hit streaming series went viral. stranger things and bridgertonWarner Bros. Discovery and Netflix have officially entered the fold.
The studios sent a cease-and-desist letter to TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, for enabling widespread copyright infringement through its new AI platform, Seedance 2.0.
The battle revolves around AI video technology, intellectual property rights, and pop culture’s most iconic characters.
The controversy exploded after the announcement of ByteDance’s new text-to-video AI model, Seedance 2.0. The tool supports text, audio, video, and image input, and claims to offer “the industry’s most comprehensive multimodal content browsing and editing capabilities.”
It quickly turned into viral clips of characters owned by major studios interacting, fighting, and appearing in scenes they weren’t originally supposed to be a part of.
This also includes DC icons like Superman and Batman, which are owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.
wayne smithWarner Bros. Discovery’s executive vice president of legal affairs, sent a cease and desist letter directly to ByteDance’s general counsel. John Rogovinpreviously worked at Warner Bros. and WarnerMedia.
In his letter, Mr. Smith reminded Mr. Rogovin of his past roles defending the same characters and emphasized that Superman and Batman are “the lifeblood of the company.”
Smith writes: “ByteDance is now engaged in a blatant violation of the very same property you have spent years protecting, an iconic property that Warner Bros. Discovery and its many talented artists and filmmakers have painstakingly created over the past several decades.”
Warner Bros. Discovery is also joining Disney and Paramount in taking action. Both studios are working with agencies and industry groups such as CAA, MPA, and SAG-AFTRA to combat what they see as the growing threat from AI-generated TikTok videos.
ByteDance has already responded to previous letters from Disney and Paramount. In a statement to the BBC, the company said:[respected] intellectual property. It added that it is working to “strengthen current safeguards” to prevent “misuse of intellectual property and likeness by users.”
But Smith made it clear that he doesn’t think users are the main problem. He wrote in the letter that they were not the “root cause of the breach.” He continued:
“Since Seedance comes pre-loaded with copyrighted characters from Warner Bros. Discovery, they are simply building on the foundation of infringement already laid by ByteDance. This was a deliberate design choice by ByteDance.”
Smith acknowledged that ByteDance has taken several steps to block certain prompts related to Warner Bros. properties. But he questioned why such guardrails were not installed at the time of launch. Warner Bros. says it is prepared to take a “comprehensive effort” to stop what it calls ongoing copyright infringement.
Netflix has also entered the fray and is gaining momentum.
The streaming giant sent ByteDance its own cease-and-desist letter accusing it of enabling AI-generated clips based on some of its hit series. For that, stranger things, bridgerton, squid gameand KPop Demon Hunter.
Netflix says Seedance 2.0 has produced content that reproduces protected elements from the show. Examples include the Bridgerton masquerade ball scene featuring Sophie Baeck’s “Lady in Silver” gown, the reenactment of the Stranger Things finale, and the depiction of the Squid Game’s “Red Light, Green Light” set.
Netflix also claims that AI created visuals that mimic the animation style and characters of KPop Demon Hunter.
Mindy LeMoyne, Netflix’s director of litigation, wrote in the letter:
“Sedance acts as a high-velocity piracy engine, churning out unauthorized derivative works that utilize Netflix’s iconic characters, worlds, and scripted stories.”
The letter also states, “Netflix will not sit idly by as ByteDance treats our valuable IP as free public domain clip art.”
Netflix claims it has never authorized ByteDance to use its content for AI training or output generation. The company clarified its stance on fair use as follows:
“The use of a copyrighted work to create a competing commercial product, especially one that regurgitates the original, is not protected by fair use,” the letter states.
Netflix has reportedly given ByteDance three days to implement safeguards to prevent the creation of further infringing content. The company is also requesting that Netflix-owned titles be removed from Seedance’s training dataset and that any existing output be removed. The letter warns that failure to comply could lead to immediate litigation.
This situation is quickly evolving into one of the entertainment industry’s biggest battles over AI-generated content. ByteDance is facing serious pressure from major Hollywood studios, with Warner Bros., Disney, Paramount and Netflix all pushing back.
The rise of AI tools like Seedance 2.0 opens up huge creative possibilities. But studios won’t be able to sit idly by if these tools start recreating Superman jumping into battle or reenacting the Stranger Things finale without permission.
This battle over AI video generation, TikTok, and copyrighted franchises is just beginning. And depending on how it plays out, it could shape the future of AI and entertainment for years to come.
