ByteDance Scrambles to Lock Down AI Video Tool After Hollywood Revolt

A video of Tom Cruise fighting Brad Pitt in a post-apocalyptic wasteland went viral last week. Neither actor was involved. The clip, generated by ByteDance's new Seedance 2.0 model, triggered cease-and-desist letters from Disney, Netflix, and Paramount within 72 hours. Disney's legal team accused the company of operating a smash-and-grab of copyrighted material according to the guardian.

ByteDance announced Monday it would implement unspecified stronger safeguards on the model, which launched in China earlier this month on Jimeng. The capitulation marks a retreat for the company which currently leads on all benchmarks. The tool's capabilities and apparent lack of initial guardrails have spooked Hollywood which is currently wrestling with its own labor unions about the future of the tech.

"This is blatant copyright violation," stated Motion Picture Association Chairman Charles Rivkin, according to AP News. The MPA accused ByteDance of training the model on a pirated library of copyrighted characters and actors' likenesses without permission. SAG-AFTRA joined the condemnation, warning the tool threatens American jobs through unauthorized use of members' voices and appearances.

The controversy erupted just days after ByteDance had already suspended a different Seedance feature. On February 10, the company urgently disabled a capability that could clone voices from a single facial photo, TechNode reported. A tech influencer had demonstrated the feature recreating his own voice and office space, calling the results terrifying in a viral post cited by Sixth Tone.

ByteDance now requires live image and voice verification for avatar creation and blocks direct uploads of celebrity faces, according to multiple outlets. The company stated it "respects intellectual property rights" and is "taking steps to prevent unauthorized use of likenesses,"

The speed of ByteDance's response suggests that even Chinese companies are taking threats from global copyright holders seriously. Disney's cease-and-desist letter specifically referenced the company's use of copyrighted Disney characters in generated videos, framing it as operation of a pirated library for training data. The studio and Netflix issued similar warnings, creating what The Tech Buzz described as a coordinated legal front against the Chinese tech giant.

Screenwriter Rhett Reese captured Hollywood's anxiety in a social media post cited by Futurism: "It might be over for us. The sentiment reflects broader industry fears about generative AI's trajectory, not just for visual effects artists but for the entire production pipeline from writers to actors"

Industry observers expect content filtering for copyrighted characters and mandatory watermarking of AI-generated outputs. The company may also implement similarity detection to block outputs that too closely match known actors or characters.

The Seedance controversy echoes earlier battles over AI training data, from Stability AI's use of copyrighted images to OpenAI's disputed use of books and articles. ByteDance's model which in our own testing could be indistinguishable from blockbusters, replicated famous faces and voices such as Anne Hathaway and Andrew Garfield.

ByteDance's retreat may only buy temporary peace. As these models proliferate, whether from ByteDance, OpenAI, or emerging competitors, the fundamental tension remains unresolved. The company promised to work toward a healthy and sustainable media landscape. The next test will come when ByteDance finally releases its model globally and users can stress test its new copyright guards