ByteDance reportedly suspends launch of Seedance video AI model after copyright disputes

TikTok’s ⁠Chinese parent, ByteDance, has put ⁠on hold the global ⁠launch of its latest video-generation model, Seedance 2.0, after copyright disputes with major Hollywood studios and streaming platforms, The Information reported on Saturday, citing two people with direct knowledge of the situation.Reuters could not ‌immediately verify the report. ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ByteDance said last month it would take steps to prevent the unauthorised use of intellectual property on its AI video generator Seedance 2.0, following threats of legal action from US studios, including Disney.Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter to ⁠the Chinese firm last month, accusing it of using Disney characters to train and power ‌Seedance 2.0 without permission, after videos generated by the model went viral in China, including one of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in ‌a fight.Disney said ByteDance had pre-packaged Seedance with a pirated library of ⁠copyrighted characters from ⁠franchises including Star Wars and Marvel, portraying them as public-domain clip art. ByteDance, which officially unveiled the model in ‌February, has said the system is aimed at professional film, e-commerce and advertising use, highlighting its ability to process ‌text, images, ‌audio and video at once to reduce content production costs.Seedance 2.0 has drawn ‌attention after earning comparisons with DeepSeek, a Chinese AI company that has built models rivalling ⁠those of Anthropic and OpenAI. Tech executives, including Elon Musk, have praised its ability to ⁠generate cinematic storylines from a handful of prompts.ByteDance had been aiming to make the new video model available to customers worldwide in mid-March, but ‌the company had since suspended ‌those plans, The Information report said.