Copyright trouble: Bytedance's new AI video generator only in China for now

Seedance 2.0 is Bytedance's latest AI video generator. The company behind the social media platform TikTok initially wanted to make it available in other parts of the world soon after its launch in China, but that won't happen for now. While various hyperrealistic scenes from the software have attracted a lot of attention online, they have likely also angered some major film studios and streaming providers.

The portal The Information reports, citing informed sources. Seedance 2.0 has been available in China for businesses and private users since last month. Wild scenes quickly circulated on X, such as a fistfight between Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt or Darth Vader and Deadpool dueling with lightsabers.

Viral clips and a lot of trouble

These clips also brought ByteDance an less pleasant response: posts from Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount Skydance, and Netflix. They reportedly call on the Chinese company to take measures to prevent its AI model from generating content that infringes their copyrights. Charles Rivkin, CEO of the Motion Picture Association, also called on Bytedance in a statement to cease copyright infringement with Seedance 2.0.

Seedance 2.0 was actually supposed to be available worldwide in mid-March. On the one hand, as a separate app for users outside China, and on the other hand, as an API for use by companies. But according to The Information's sources, that won't happen for now. The focus is now on resolving legal issues and implementing guardrails to prevent future copyright infringements.

In China, Bytedance has now introduced filters for Seedance 2.0 to prevent the creation of copyright-infringing clips. However, this is not working very well: Paying users are increasingly complaining about rejected prompts that are not related to any copyrighted material. Work on suitable protective measures is ongoing, but the new date for the worldwide launch of Seedance 2.0 remains unclear.

(nen)