Chinese tech giant ByteDance has pledged to tighten protections for its controversial AI video generation tool, SeaDance 2.0, following cease-and-desist emails from major Hollywood studios and condemnation from industry groups, according to BBC News.
TikTok’s parent company told the BBC on Monday that it “respects intellectual property rights and has heard your concerns about Seadance 2.0,” adding: “We are taking steps to strengthen our current safeguards to prevent unauthorized use of our intellectual property and likeness by our users.”
Variety has reached out to ByteDance to find out what safeguards it has in place.
The pledge comes after Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance on Friday accusing it of engaging in a “virtual smash-and-grab” of the Mouse House’s intellectual property, alleging that the platform had preloaded SeaDance with what it characterized as a “pirated library” of copyrighted characters from Marvel, Star Wars, and other Disney series. The letter alleges that ByteDance is treating the coveted Disney IP “as if it were free public domain clip art, as if it were Disney’s coveted intellectual property.”
Paramount followed suit on Saturday with its own suspension targeting both Seedance and ByteDance’s Seedream image generator. Gabriel Miller, head of intellectual property at Paramount Skydance, accused the company of “blatantly infringing” on the properties of “South Park,” “Star Trek,” “The Godfather,” “SpongeBob SquarePants,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “Dora the Explorer” and “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” among others.
The Motion Picture Association, which represents Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, Netflix and other major studios, issued a strongly worded statement Thursday urging ByteDance to “immediately cease its infringing activities.”
“In a single day, Chinese AI service Seadance 2.0 committed massive misappropriation of U.S. copyrighted material,” said MPA Chairman and CEO Charles Rivkin. “By launching its service without meaningful protections against copyright infringement, ByteDance is ignoring established copyright laws that protect the rights of creators and support millions of American jobs.”
SAG-AFTRA condemned the “blatant violations” including “unauthorized use of members’ voices and likenesses.” The guild added: “This is unacceptable and undermines the ability of human talent to earn a living.”
The Human Artistry Campaign, a coalition backed by Hollywood unions and creative organizations, characterized the platform as “an attack on all creators around the world.”
Seedance 2.0, released on February 12th, generates 15-second video clips from text prompts, similar to OpenAI’s Sora. The platform won praise for its realism, but quickly sparked controversy when users posted AI-generated content featuring famous Hollywood assets.
Among the most widely circulated examples was a video posted by filmmaker and VFX artist Rawili Robinson showing Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt brawling on a rooftop, which went viral last week and prompted the MPA’s initial condemnation on Thursday.
Other videos circulating online that are said to have been created using the tool include Star Wars characters Anakin Skywalker and Rey engaging in a lightsaber battle, and Spider-Man battling Captain America in New York, according to BBC News and several industry publications.
This controversy extends beyond Hollywood. According to a report from BBC News, the Japanese government has launched an investigation into possible copyright infringement after an AI-generated video of a popular anime character was posted online.
ByteDance hasn’t disclosed what training data is influencing Seedance, but the company previously said it had suspended the ability for users to upload images of real people.
