Hollywood accuses Chinese AI Seedance of massive infringement

PARIS, France — America's Motion Picture Association has accused Chinese video generation service Seedance of "unauthorized use of US copyrighted works on a massive scale" as lifelike AI-generated clips featuring Hollywood stars began flooding social media.

Built by TikTok owner ByteDance, Seedance 2.0 has produced scenes widely shared online, including Tom Cruise brawling with Brad Pitt or dozens of different combinations of lifelike stars from superhero movies and video games, some of them watched millions of times.

Bytedance's new AI "operates without meaningful safeguards against infringement" and "should immediately cease," MPA boss Charles Rivkin-- representing heavyweights like Disney, Universal, Warner and Netflix — said in a statement published overnight from Thursday to Friday.

Seedance 2.0 is for now only available as a limited test version in China.

That has not kept Hollywoodesque imagery from piling up in social media users' feeds.

"In a single day... Seedance 2.0 has engaged in unauthorized use of US copyrighted works on a massive scale," Rivkin said.

ByteDance "is disregarding well-established copyright law that protects the rights of creators and underpins millions of American jobs," he added.

This was a 2 line prompt in seedance 2. If the hollywood is cooked guys are right maybe the hollywood is cooked guys are cooked too idk. pic.twitter.com/dNTyLUIwAV
— Ruairi Robinson (@RuairiRobinson) February 11, 2026