Chinese technology giant ByteDance has pledged to curb a controversial artificial intelligence (AI) video-making tool, following threats of legal action from Disney and complaints from other entertainment giants.
In the past few days, videos created with the latest version of the app Seedance have proliferated online. Many have been lauded for their realism.
But the trend has also raised concerns among several Hollywood studios, which have accused the AI platform’s creators of copyright infringement.
On Friday, Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance accusing it of supplying Seedance with a “pirated library” of the studio’s copyrighted characters, including those from Marvel and Star Wars.
Disney’s lawyers accused ByteDance of committing a “virtual smash-and-grab” of its intellectual property, including Marvel superheroes, Star Wars characters, and various cartoons.
On Monday, ByteDance told the BBC that the company “respects intellectual property rights and we have heard the concerns regarding Seedance 2.0.”
“We are taking steps to strengthen current safeguards as we work to prevent the unauthorised use of intellectual property and likeness by users.”
ByteDance did not respond to questions asking for details on the safeguards it plans to implement.
Like other generative AI tools, Seedance can generate videos from short text prompts.
Many of Seedance’s clips feature real actors and shows, and some have gone viral since the launch of its latest 2.0 version on 12 February.
The BBC has found online clips purportedly generated by Seedance showing Star Wars characters Anakin Skywalker and Rey battling with their lightsabers, and Spider-Man fighting Captain America on the streets of New York.
The company has not disclosed what data it uses to train Seedance.
ByteDance had previously said the product had already paused the ability for users to upload images of real people.
The company also said it respects intellectual property rights and copyright protections and takes any potential infringement seriously.
Disney’s legal threat follows criticism from other organisations in Hollywood over the Seedance platform.
The Motion Picture Association, which represents major US studios such as Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, and Netflix, has demanded that the tool “immediately cease its infringing activity”.
The actors’ union SAG-AFTRA has also accused Seedance of “blatant infringement”.
Other AI image‑generation tools have also been subject to legal action.
Last year, Disney and NBCUniversal sued AI image generator Midjourney, alleging the platform generated “endless unauthorised copies” of the studios’ copyrighted works. The case is ongoing.
Disney has also asked Google to restrict the generation of its characters on Google’s AI platforms.
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