‘We’re done’: Hollywood fears new AI video creator, Seedance 2.0
art
express newspaper
2026/02/13 20:53
A leading Hollywood figure has warned that “it’s over” after watching artificial intelligence (AI)-generated footage of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt arguing.
Rhett Reese, co-writer of Deadpool, Wolverine, Zombieland, and Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, has responded to a 15-second video of Cruise and Pitt exchanging punches on a destroyed bridge, posted by Irish director Ruairi Robinson, best known for the sci-fi horror film Last Days on Mars (2013). Reese shared the video on social media and wrote: “So bad. It’s over.”
He added, “Soon, humans will be able to sit down at a computer and make a movie that will be indistinguishable from the movies that Hollywood is making today. Of course, if the humans are not talented, the movies will be terrible. But if they have the talent and taste of Christopher Nolan (and such people will soon emerge), the results will be extraordinary.”
Robinson said the clip was created with “Seedance 2 two-line prompts,” referring to Seedance 2.0, a new AI video generator announced Thursday by TikTok owner ByteDance.
The Motion Picture Association of Japan accused ByteDance of “massive misappropriation of copyrighted works in the United States.”
AI systems such as chatbots, image generators, and video creation tools are trained on data from the internet, including copyrighted materials such as novels, artwork, and movie clips. This has led artists and the creative industry to demand compensation and create licensing frameworks for fair use. Some major companies like Disney have contracts with AI companies, including OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT.
MPA Chairman and CEO Charles Rivkin called on ByteDance to “stop its infringing practices” and said, “By launching its service without meaningful infringement controls in place, ByteDance is ignoring the copyright laws that protect creators and support millions of American jobs.”
Bevan Kidron, a member of the British parliament and an activist against relaxing copyright laws, said AI companies should strike deals with the creative industries.
Kidron said: “This is just the latest episode in a series of copyright violations, but from conversations with both sides I believe there is a will to reach an agreement. The AI sector needs to come up with a genuine service that satisfies the creative industry. Otherwise we will face a decade of litigation and the destruction of the industry they themselves support.” /Gazeta Express/
