{"id":467320,"date":"2026-02-14T01:45:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T01:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/467320\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T01:45:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T01:45:07","slug":"seedance-2-0-sparks-hollywood-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/467320\/","title":{"rendered":"Seedance 2.0 Sparks Hollywood Backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tOn Thursday the Chinese owner of TikTok released the latest version of its AI<\/a>-powered video creation model, ushering in a wave of user-created videos featuring Hollywood stars and intellectual property and setting off alarm bells in entertainment.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn just a short time period, Seedance<\/a> 2.0 users created not only a widely circulated video<\/a> of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt engaging in hand-to-hand combat, but also an alternate ending to Game of Thrones and a clip featuring Rocky Balboa and Optimus Prime in a fast-food restaurant.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe reaction from organizations with ties to Hollywood that followed was swift and fierce, similar to when OpenAI\u2019s Sora 2 shocked the industry<\/a> in the fall of 2025 with its clips featuring iconic Hollywood properties and initial \u201copt-out\u201d stance. Talent agencies were quick to respond<\/a> in the latter case, saying they would opt out their clients. OpenAI chief Sam Altman backtracked and offered \u201cmore granular\u201d control for IP creators amid the pushback. <\/p>\n

\n\tHollywood\u2019s top studios and streamers quickly came out swinging against ByteDance. \u201dIn a single day, the Chinese AI service Seedance 2.0 has engaged in unauthorized use of U.S. copyrighted works on a massive scale,\u201d Charles Rivkin, the CEO of the studio trade organization the Motion Picture Association, said in a statement on Thursday afternoon. \u201cBy 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRivkin called on the company to \u201cimmediately cease its infringing activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the labor front, the union SAG-AFTRA<\/a> \u2014 which represents actors like Cruise and Pitt \u2014 said on Friday that ByteDance was engaging in \u201cblatant infringement.\u201d Added the union, \u201cThe infringement includes the unauthorized use of our members\u2019 voices and likenesses. This is unacceptable and undercuts the ability of human talent to earn a livelihood.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe union continued, \u201cSeedance 2.0 disregards law, ethics, industry standards and basic principles of consent. Responsible A.I. development demands responsibility, and that is nonexistent here.\u201d SAG-AFTRA has long advocated for the principles of consent and compensation to undergird all uses of A.I. that affect its members.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Human Artistry Campaign, a coalition of artist and entertainment groups that includes members like the Recording Industry Association of America, the NHL Players\u2019 Association and the AFL-CIO, generally advocates for tech companies to license material for their AI tools and allow artists to opt out.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Friday the group called Seedance 2.0 \u201can attack on every creator around the world.\u201d The group added that the alleged theft of human creators\u2019 work is \u201cdestructive to our culture\u201d and that the AI-generated clips from the platform \u201cviolate the most basic aspects of personal autonomy and should be deeply concerning to everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThese groups were joined by the Copyright Alliance, an advocacy group for creators and copyright, which also called on ByteDance to end the flood of user-created content featuring intellectual property. \u201cThe theft of the works of America\u2019s creators by foreign bad actors is a threat to our nation\u2019s creators and our global leadership in creativity and responsible AI innovation and must not be tolerated,\u201d said CEO Keith Kupferschmid.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Hollywood Reporter has reached out to ByteDance for comment.<\/p>\n

\n\tIf Hollywood follows the same playbook with Seedance 2.0 as it did with Sora 2, some of the industry\u2019s most influential organizations could join hands to push for changes. After the initial release of Sora 2 produced unauthorized videos of Breaking Bad actor Bryan Cranston, he brought concerns<\/a> to SAG-AFTRA, which then worked with the Association of Talent Agents, UTA and CAA to talk with OpenAI about improving guardrails around likenesses.<\/p>\n

\n\tSaid SAG-AFTRA president Sean Astin at the time, \u201cBryan did the right thing by communicating with his union and his professional representatives to have the matter addressed\u2026 I\u2019m glad that OpenAI has committed to using an opt-in protocol, where all artists have the ability to choose whether they wish to participate in the exploitation of their voice and likeness using A.I.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe union has been focused on AI for years and hasn\u2019t been afraid to play hardball over what is considered an existential issue for actors: AI regulation was a major concern during the union\u2019s 118-day strike against film and television studios in 2023 as well as in its longer video game strike<\/a> between 2024 and 2025. AI is again expected to be a top issue as the union negotiates with studios and streamers on its 2026 labor contract. Negotiations began on Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Thursday the Chinese owner of TikTok released the latest version of its AI-powered video creation model, ushering…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[182,88,82440,3801,216815],"class_list":{"0":"post-467320","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-mpa","11":"tag-sag-aftra","12":"tag-seedance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}