ByteDance Promises Seedance 2.0 AI Limits After Hollywood Backlash

A new AI video generation tool from TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has Hollywood concerned. ByteDance has promised to improve safeguards around intellectual property rights to limit what its AI tool can make.

A spokesperson for ByteDance told the BBC, “We are taking steps to strengthen current safeguards as we work to prevent the unauthorised use of intellectual property and likeness by users.” It also says it “respects intellectual property rights and we have heard the concerns regarding Seedance 2.0.”

The move comes after significant backlash from Hollywood studios since the tool was introduced last Thursday. The internet has been flooded with Seedance 2.0 videos over the weekend, many of which feature intellectual property owned by studios.

PCMag found videos online featuring multiple superheroes fighting in AI-generated footage, including Marvel and DC characters in environments similar to those of Hollywood movies. Other clips show Mike Tyson fighting Bruce Lee or Will Smith fighting a spaghetti monster, a reference to early AI videos.

One of the most commonly viewed clips shows AI-generated versions of actors Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt fighting. It was posted by filmmaker Ruairí Robinson, who claimed to have made the video with a two-line prompt in Seedance 2.0.

It led Deadpool screenwriter, Rhett Reese, to repost the video, saying, “I hate to say it. It’s likely over for us.”

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Another version of the video, posted with some visual differences which suggest it was generated separately, shows a similarly staged fight but with dialogue included where the actors speak about child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his death.

The Motion Picture Association (MPA), which represents major film studios including Netflix, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Disney, and Warner Bros., released a statement on the same day as the release of Seedance 2.0.

The MPA said, “By launching a service that operates without meaningful safeguards against infringement, ByteDance is disregarding well-established copyright law that protects the rights of creators and underpins millions of American jobs. ByteDance should immediately cease its infringing activity.”

Disney reportedly sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance late last week, accusing it of a “virtual smash-and-grab.” Many Seedance-generated clips feature Disney’s most popular franchises, including characters like Captain America, Deadpool, Spider-Man, and Wolverine.

This pressure from Hollywood studios seems to have inspired ByteDance’s promises of stronger safeguards. ByteDance has yet to share how safeguards will work or when they will be implemented.