Hollywood is not happy with the new Seedance 2.0 video generator

Hollywood organizations are opposing a new AI-powered video model called Sedan 2.0which they say quickly became a vehicle for “flagrant” copyright infringement.

ByteDance, the Chinese company that recently completed a deal to sell TikTok’s US operations (it It retains a stake in the new joint venture), Seedance 2.0 launched earlier this week. According to the Wall Street JournalThe updated model is currently available to Chinese users of ByteDance’s Jianying app, and the company says it will soon be available to global users of its CapCut app.

Similar tools like OpenAI SoraSeedance allows users to create videos (currently limited to 15 seconds in length) by simply entering a text prompt. Like Sora, Seedance quickly attracted criticism for its apparent lack of guardrails around the ability to create videos using images of real people, as well as the studios’ intellectual property.

After one X user Posted a short video Tom Cruise is shown fighting Brad Pitt, which they said was created by “two lines in Seed 2,” the “Deadpool” screenwriter. Rhett Reese replied“I hate to say it. It’s probably over for us.”

The Motion Picture Association soon issued it statement From CEO Charles Rifkin demands that ByteDance “immediately cease its infringing activity.”

“In one day, Chinese AI service Seedance 2.0 engaged in the unauthorized use of US copyrighted works on a large scale,” Rifkin said. “By launching a service that operates without meaningful safeguards against infringement, ByteDance is ignoring well-established copyright law that protects the rights of creators and supports millions of American jobs.”

The Humanitarian Art Campaign – an initiative supported by Hollywood unions and trade groups – Seedance 2.0 condemned As a “highly established attack around the world”, while The actors union SAG-AFTRA said It “stands with the studios in condemning the blatant abuse enabled by Bytedance’s new AI video model Seedance 2.0.”

The Seedance videos appear to have featured Disney-owned characters like Spider-Man, Darth Vader, and Grogu, better known as Baby Yoda, prompting the company to take legal action. Axios reported that Disney sent a cease and desist letter Accusing ByteDance of “appropriating Disney’s intellectual property” and claiming that the Chinese company is “hijacking Disney characters by reproducing, distributing, and creating derivative works featuring those characters.”

Disney is not necessarily opposed to working with AI companies, although it has reportedly done so Send a cease and desist letter to Google On similar issues, it’s Signed a three-year licensing agreement with OpenAI.

TechCrunch has reached out to ByteDance for comment.