ByteDance Responds to Legal Threat Over AI Video Generator
ByteDance, the Chinese technology company behind TikTok, has announced plans to limit its AI video creation tool following legal threats from Disney and criticism from other media companies, according to reports.
The AI video generator, Seedance 2.0, launched last week, has caused concern in Hollywood as it allows users to produce realistic clips of movie stars and superheroes using only brief text prompts.
Several major Hollywood studios have accused the tool of infringing copyright.
On Friday, Walt Disney reportedly issued a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance, alleging that Seedance was supplied with a “pirated library” of the studio’s characters, including those from Marvel and Star Wars, according to the US news outlet Axios.
Disney’s legal team claimed ByteDance engaged in a “virtual smash-and-grab” of their intellectual property, as reported by the BBC.
In response, the TikTok owner told the BBC it “respects intellectual property rights and we have heard the concerns regarding Seedance 2.0”.
A company spokesperson stated they were “taking steps to strengthen current safeguards as we work to prevent the unauthorised use of intellectual property and likeness by users”, but declined to provide further details on specific plans.
Seedance 2.0 and Its Impact on Hollywood
Seedance can generate videos from just a few lines of text. Last week, Rhett Reese, co-writer of Deadpool, Wolverine, Zombieland, and Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, commented on a widely circulated AI-generated clip featuring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt fighting.
“In next to no time, one person is going to be able to sit at a computer and create a movie indistinguishable from what Hollywood now releases. True, if that person is no good, it will suck. But if that person possesses Christopher Nolan’s talent and taste (and someone like that will rapidly come along), it will be tremendous.”
The first version of Seedance was launched in June last year.
The Motion Picture Association (MPA), the Hollywood trade association representing studios such as Paramount, Warner Bros, and Netflix, has accused ByteDance of “unauthorised use of US copyrighted works on a massive scale”. The actors’ union SAG-AFTRA has described Seedance’s actions as “blatant infringement”.
Industry Concerns and AI's Role in Entertainment
This situation is the latest conflict in Hollywood amid growing concerns about AI’s impact on the entertainment industry’s future. Artists and creative industries have called for compensation for the use of their work and the establishment of licensing frameworks to enable legal use of their content.
Last year, the MPA filed a lawsuit over what studios described as “endless unauthorised copies” of their works.
However, some creative companies are also forging partnerships with AI firms. Last year, OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, entered a three-year licensing agreement allowing its Sora video generation tool to use some of Disney’s characters.
Both ByteDance and Walt Disney were contacted for comment.
