Sony Joins Revolt Against Seedance 2.0 Over AI Copyright Infringement

Last week, we covered the AI battle between Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, which set the internet ablaze. And now, studios are raising their voices over the program, Seedance, which was used to make it, and ByteDance, the company behind it.

Following in the footsteps of Disney, Warner Bros., Netflix, and Paramount, Sony is demanding the immediate removal of its intellectual property from the platform’s training data.

But with ByteDance centered in China, it's hard to see how this will be effective, since they don't have to follow any United States laws.

Let's dive in.

AI Stealing Movie Studios

Like many controversies, this one started on X, after AI-generated clips began circulating. These clips, created using Seedance 2.0, featured scenes from Breaking Bad and Spiderman.

Now, those are two of Sony's prized assets. So you can bet Sony was not happy to see them popping up all over.

And really, the only way Seedance would be able to generate clips or parts of those projects is if it had been fed multiple episodes and movies, training data, without paying anyone for it.

This gets at the heart of this AI stuff, which is basically that it's stealing.

Sony’s Legal Volley

In a stern cease-and-desist letter sent Wednesday, Jill Ratner, General Counsel for Sony Pictures Entertainment, characterized the infringements by ByteDance as "willful."

"Given the egregious nature of Seedance 2.0's outputs and the complete lack of observable copyright guardrails at launch, SPE can only conclude that ByteDance's infringements are willful," Ratner wrote, according to Variety. The studio has made it clear that it will not accept "delayed or half-baked measures" and is demanding a robust framework to protect its IP immediately.

Still from AI-generated video created by Seedance 2.0 Credit: Seedance 2.0

A United Front

Sony is not alone in its actions; it's the fifth major studio to take direct action against ByteDance this month. The Motion Picture Association (MPA), led by CEO Charles Rivkin, sounded the alarm on February 12th, calling for an immediate halt to the use of copyrighted material for AI training without compensation or consent.

All of these studios are very upset, and rightfully so.

They're seeing stuff they've invested billions in being taken without pay and used all over. This is the same kind of stuff they got mad at when people started making fan edits and movies and posting them.

You can't play with someone else's stuff without paying for it.

ByteDance has publicly stated it is working to "strengthen measures" to prevent the misuse of actors' likenesses and copyrighted stories, but the industry remains unconvinced. Mostly because we're seeing these new videos come out daily.

We're going to see international lawsuits if it continues, but it's hard to tell who will hold ByteDance accountable when they're not a US company.

Why It Matters For Filmmakers

Now would not be the time I used AI to make my Star Wars idea, unless I wanted to be sued into the ground. There's insane value in all these characters studios own. It's how they make billions of dollars every year.

While we don't have a formal response from ByteDance, I'd assume these studios will take action against X for allowing clips like this to be posted.

Again, the legality of doing business with a company in China that's stealing from you is very difficult. And I am not a lawyer, so I can't tell you what the strategy might become, but I would assume these studios will do anything it takes to shut them down if they keep taking copyrighted material.

We'll keep you updated as this story develops.