The Motion Picture Association (MPA), dedicated to protecting the interests of US film studios, has publicly denounced the artificial intelligence tool Seedance 2.0 for engaging in “unauthorized use of works protected by US copyright on a massive scale,” according to a statement. The protest occurs due to the dissemination of a 15-second video of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt fighting on a rooftop, made by this service that belongs to the Chinese company ByteDance — owner of TikTok — and which has gone viral on social networks. “ByteDance should immediately cease its infringing activity,” said MPA President and CEO Charles Rivkin.
The 15-second video (approximate maximum time allowed by Seedance) was generated by Irish commercial filmmaker Ruairi Robinson, known primarily for his sci-fi short films and animations, one of which, Fifty Percent Greywas nominated for an Oscar. “This was a prompt two-line (code) in Seedance 2,” Robinson wrote on
Later, Robinson published other variations of the fight, with changes in dialogue – which refer to the Epstein case and Russia -, camera angles and some visual details, while maintaining the main choreography.
Although these types of hyperrealistic videos are not new, concern in the industry increases every time a new one comes to light. “I hate to say it. It’s probably over for us. In a very short time, a single person will be able to sit in front of a computer and create a movie indistinguishable from what Hollywood is currently releasing,” wrote Rhett Reese, screenwriter of the films. Deadpoolon his X account about the Cruise and Pitt video.
The association ruled on a similar case at the end of 2025. MPA urged OpenAI to “take immediate and decisive action” against its new artificial intelligence video generation model, Sora 2. “Videos that infringe the copyrights of our members’ films, series and characters have proliferated on the service and on social networks,” Rivkin said at the time.
OpenAI responded to those industry concerns by implementing measures that made it much more difficult for users to violate studios’ copyrights. Disney subsequently struck a deal with OpenAI to license 200 characters for use in Sora 2, which many saw as a potential role model for other studios. But it’s unclear whether ByteDance would be willing to take that approach as it has not yet responded to the film partnership.
A case that also resonates is that of Tilly Norwood, the actress created with artificial intelligence, at the end of 2025. Eline Van der Velden, owner of the AI production studio Particle6 responsible for this creation, then defended that she would like her character to be the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman, according to an interview with the media Deadline. The reactions did not take long to arrive and actresses like the Mexican Melissa Barrera published on Instagram: “I hope that all the actors represented by the agent who does this get their act together. How disgusting!”