ByteDance’s Seedance 2.0, a new AI video generator available in China, has drawn condemnation from Hollywood groups that say the tool can generate videos using copyrighted works and performers’ likenesses without authorization. The backlash comes as the Beijing-based company, which created the TikTok short-video app, expands consumer access to text-prompt-based video generation.
In a statement Tuesday, the Motion Picture Association said Seedance 2.0 “has engaged in unauthorized use of U.S. copyrighted works on a massive scale.” Charles Rivkin, the chairman and CEO of the MPA, said the company should “immediately cease its infringing activity,” adding that launching a service without “meaningful safeguards against infringement” disregards copyright law that protects creators and supports American jobs.
The Hollywood dispute also includes concerns about the voices and images of actors. SAG-AFTRA said Friday that it “stands with the studios in condemning the blatant infringement” enabled by Seedance 2.0, and it said the infringement includes “the unauthorized use of our members’ voices and likenesses.”
SAG-AFTRA said the practice is “unacceptable and undercuts the ability of human talent to earn a livelihood.” The union also said Seedance 2.0 “disregards law, ethics, industry standards and basic principles of consent,” and it argued that “Responsible AI development demands responsibility, and that is nonexistent here.”
The service, which is only available in China for now, lets users generate high-quality AI videos from simple text prompts. The tool’s rapid uptake in the industry drew attention after an Irish director posted a Seedance 2.0 video that shows AI versions of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, according to the account described by the movie and TV industry critics.
In response to that video, screenwriter Rhett Rheese wrote on X that “I hate to say it. It’s likely over for us.” ByteDance later issued a response, saying in a Sunday statement that it “respects intellectual property rights” while acknowledging it had heard concerns about Seedance 2.0.
In its statement, ByteDance said it has “heard the concerns regarding Seedance 2.0” and that it is taking steps to “strengthen current safeguards” while it works to prevent “the unauthorized use of intellectual property and likeness by users.” The company did not provide additional details on what those safeguards would include in the statement.