TikTok creator ByteDance vows to curb AI video tool after Disney threat | AI (artificial intelligence)
ByteDance, the Chinese tech company behind TikTok, said it would restrict its AI video creation tool following Disney’s threat of legal action and a backlash from other media companies, according to reports.
Released last week, AI video creator Sedance 2.0 sent Hollywood into awe as users created lifelike clips of movie stars and superheroes with just a short text prompt.
Many major Hollywood studios accused the tool of copyright infringement.
On Friday, Walt Disney reportedly sent a cease and desist letter to ByteDance, accusing it of supplying Seedance with a “pirated library” of the studio’s characters, including Marvel and Star Wars characters, according to US news outlet Axios.
According to a report by the BBC, Disney’s lawyers claimed that ByteDance engaged in a “virtual smash and grab” of their intellectual property.
However, TikTok’s owner told the BBC that it “respects intellectual property rights and we have heard of the concerns around Sedance 2.0”.
A spokesperson for the company told the publisher it was “taking steps to strengthen existing protections while working to prevent unauthorized use of intellectual property and images by users” but declined to provide further details about its plans.
Sedance can create videos based on just a few lines of text. Last week, Rhett Reese, co-author of Deadpool & Wolverine, Zombieland and Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, said “it’s probably over for us” after watching a widely circulated AI-generated clip featuring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt fighting.
he added: “In a very short time, one person will be able to sit in front of a computer and create a movie that is indistinguishable from the movies Hollywood is currently releasing. True, if that person is not good, it will be terrible. But if that person has the talent and taste of Christopher Nolan (and someone like him comes along quickly), it will be amazing.”
The first iteration of Seedance was launched in June last year.
The Motion Picture Association, the Hollywood trade association that represents studios including Paramount, Warner Bros. and Netflix, accused ByteDance of “large-scale unauthorized use of U.S. copyrighted works.” Player union Sag-Aftra accused Sedance of “blatant violation”.
It’s the latest clash in Hollywood amid concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence on the future of entertainment. Artists and creative industries have called for compensation for the use of their materials and the creation of licensing frameworks that will ensure the legal use of their content.
Last year, Disney and NBCUniversal sued AI image generator Midjourney over what the studios claimed were “an endless number of unauthorized copies” of their work.
But creative companies are also making deals with AI businesses. Last year, Disney announced a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, and a three-year licensing deal that will allow its Sora video creation tool to use some of Disney’s characters.
ByteDance and Walt Disney have been approached for comment.
