LOS ANGELES — A brand new synthetic intelligence (AI) mannequin developed by a Chinesetechnology agency rocked Hollywood this week due to what it may imply for artistic industries.
Created by tech big ByteDance, Seedance 2.0 can generate cinema-quality video, full with sound results and dialogue, from only a few written prompts.
Movies generated by Seedance 2.0, which was launched final week, have gone viral in China together with one in all Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in a battle.
Main studios like Disney and Paramount rapidly accused ByteDance of copyright infringement however considerations in regards to the know-how run deeper than authorized points.
Seedance was launched to little fanfare in June 2025 however it’s the second model that got here eight months later that has brought on a significant stir.
“For the primary time, I am not considering that this appears good for AI. As a substitute, I am considering that this appears straight out of an actual manufacturing pipeline,” says Jan-Willem Blom from artistic studio Videostate.
Western AI video fashions have made progress in processing consumer directions to make beautiful pictures, he provides, however Seedance appears to have tied all the pieces collectively.
Like different AI instruments — Midjourney and OpenAI’s Sora — Seedance can create movies from brief textual content prompts. In some instances only one immediate appears to be producing high-quality movies.
It’s notably spectacular as a result of it combines textual content, visuals and audio in a single system, AI ethics researcher Margaret Mitchell says.
Many business specialists and filmmakers consider Seedance is a brand new chapter within the growth of video-generating know-how.
The advanced motion sequences it’s producing look extra lifelike than its rivals, says David Kwok, who runs a Singapore-based animation studio referred to as Tiny Island Productions.
“It virtually seems like having a cinematographer or director of images specialising in motion movies helping you.”
Seedance has run into hassle over copyright points, a rising problem within the age of AI.
Consultants warn that AI corporations are prioritizing know-how over individuals as they make extra highly effective instruments and use knowledge with out paying for it.
Main Hollywood teams have cried foul over Seedance’s use of copyrighted characters like Spider Man and Darth Vader.
Disney and Paramount issued cease-and-desist letters demanding that Seedance cease utilizing their content material. Japan can be investigating ByteDance for alleged copyright violations, after AI movies of in style anime characters went viral.
ByteDance stated it would take steps to stop the unauthorized use of mental property on its AI video generator, the Chinese language know-how agency stated on Monday, following threats of authorized motion from the US studios, together with Disney (DIS.N), opens new tab.
Disney stated ByteDance had pre-packaged Seedance with a pirated library of copyrighted characters from franchises together with Star Wars and Marvel, portraying them as in the event that they have been public-domain clip artwork, the individual stated.
“We’re taking steps to strengthen present safeguards as we work to stop the unauthorized use of mental property and likeness by customers,” ByteDance stated in its assertion.
This isn’t distinctive to the Chinese language agency.
In 2023, the New York Instances sued OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging they used its articles with out permission to coach their AI fashions. Reddit sued Perplexity final 12 months, claiming the AI agency had illegally scraped consumer posts. Disney raised comparable considerations with Google.
Clearly labelling content material to stop deception and constructing public belief in AI is way extra necessary than “cooler-looking” movies, Mitchell says.
And that is why builders should construct techniques that handle licensing and funds, and supply clear mechanisms for individuals to contest misuse, she provides.
Disney, as an illustration, signed a $1bn (£730m) cope with OpenAI’s Sora so it may use characters from Star Wars, Pixar and Marvel.
Seedance’s builders have been prone to have been conscious of potential copyright points round the usage of Western IP and took a danger anyway, says Shaanan Cohney, a computing researcher on the College of Melbourne.
“There’s loads of leeway to bend the principles strategically, to flout the principles for some time and get advertising clout,” he provides.
In the meantime, for small companies, Seedance is just too helpful to disregard.
Kwok, from Singapore’s Tiny Island Productions, says AI of this high quality will enable corporations like his to create movies that will value way over they’ll in any other case afford.
He gave the instance of Asia’s booming brief‑type movies and micro‑dramas that sometimes run on small budgets — roughly $140,000 for as many as 80 episodes underneath two minutes every.
These productions have been sticking to romance or household drama to maintain prices down as they want fewer visible results. However now AI can “elevate low-budget productions into extra bold genres corresponding to sci-fi, interval drama and, now, motion”, Kwok says.
“It indicators that Chinese language fashions are on the very least matching on the frontier of what’s out there,” Cohney says. “If ByteDance can produce this seemingly out of nowhere, what different kinds of fashions do Chinese language corporations have in retailer?”
Final 12 months DeepSeek, one other Chinese language AI mannequin, despatched shockwaves world wide with its low-cost massive language mannequin. It rapidly overtook ChatGPT because the most-downloaded free app on Apple’s US retailer.
Within the 12 months since Beijing has put AI and robotics on the core of its financial technique, investing closely in superior laptop chip manufacturing, automation and generative AI because it bids for a technological edge over the US.
Whereas Seedance 2.0 was making headlines, different massive Chinese language companies had lower-profile rollouts of their new generative AI instruments forward of the Lunar New 12 months vacation.
The Spring Pageant is more and more changing into an “AI vacation,” with companies timing launches for a interval when thousands and thousands of individuals are at dwelling and experimenting with new apps, China analyst Invoice Bishop wrote in his e-newsletter.
He predicts 2026 may mark a turning level for mass AI adoption in China – not simply chatbots, but additionally AI brokers dealing with transactions, coding instruments integrated in on a regular basis work, and video creators routinely utilizing AI. — Businesses
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