Studios are calling on the Chinese owner of TikTok, ByteDance, to cease the use of copyrighted works in a new AI model, which has drawn attention for a Brad Pitt vs. Tom Cruise deepfake.
Charles Rivkin, the chairman and CEO of the MPA, said in a statement, “In a single day, the Chinese AI service Seedance 2.0 has engaged in unauthorized use of U.S. copyrighted works on a massive scale. By 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. ByteDance should immediately cease its infringing activity.”
As reported by Deadline’s Jake Kanter, Seedance 2.0 users are prompting the Chinese AI tool to create videos that appear to be repurposing, with startling accuracy, copyrighted material from studios, including Disney, Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount. In addition to the Cruise vs. Pitt fight, the model has produced remixes of Avengers: Endgame and a Friends scene in which Rachel and Joey are played by otters.
A ByteDance spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.
TikTok’s U.S. operations were spun off into a separate joint venture last month after Congress passed a law requiring a ByteDance divestiture.
In October, studios sounded the alarm after OpenAI introduced Sora 2, a service that allowed users to generate works featuring copyrighted characters. OpenAI put new restrictions on the service.
