ByteDance halts Seedance 2.0 rollout as legal pressure mounts

ByteDance has paused the global rollout of its viral AI video-generation model Seedance 2.0 after copyright disputes with major Hollywood studios and streaming platforms escalated, according to reports citing people familiar with the matter.

The tool, which can generate realistic videos from text prompts or images, quickly gained attention online for producing cinematic clips that resembled scenes from popular films and featured AI-generated versions of well-known actors. However, the technology also triggered a backlash from entertainment companies, which argue that the system may have been trained on copyrighted material without authorization.

Multiple groups accused Seedance of infringement

Not long after its release in China, Seedance 2.0 began attracting criticism from streaming firms. Viral content featuring AI-generated celebrity combatants prompted serious questions regarding the legality of the model’s data.

Just last month, Disney slapped ByteDance with a cease-and-desist letter, alleging that the platform illegally bundled its franchises as if they were public-domain assets. Disney specifically called out the theft of iconic figures from its massive Marvel and Star Wars universes.

At the time, Disney’s attorney David Singer, also a partner at Jenner & Block, commented, “ByteDance’s virtual smash-and-grab of Disney’s IP is willful, pervasive, and totally unacceptable. We believe this is just the tip of the iceberg, which is shocking considering Seedance has only been available for a few days.”

After Disney took legal action, Paramount Skydance also accused ByteDance’s Seedance of looting its library, including South Park, Star Trek, Dora the Explorer, and The Godfather franchises, to train its AI tools. It sent a cease-and-desist letter to the firm.

Moreover, Motion Picture Association chairman and CEO Charles Rivkin had chimed in, calling for an immediate end to ByteDance’s copyright violations. Branding the situation an “attack on every creator,” the Human Artistry Campaign also urged regulators to use every legal tool to stop the IP plunder. It noted, “These unauthorized deepfakes and voice clones of actors violate the most basic aspects of personal autonomy.”

In response to the backlash in February, ByteDance said it is reinforcing its safeguards against unauthorized use of intellectual property and likeness.

According to reports, ByteDance has now suspended plans to expand its platforms into other regions. Seedance had initially intended to make its tools available by mid-March. The company’s lawyers and engineers are still working to pinpoint risks and build digital “guardrails” to prevent future AI infringement.

ByteDance intends to buy advanced Nvidia AI chips

Despite Seedance’s setback, ByteDance is still planning to increase its computing power outside China, using advanced Nvidia AI chips. It has partnered with a Southeast Asian company with intentions to acquire Nvidia’s Blackwell chips in Malaysia for AI research and development.

The partner’s Tier 1 designation from Nvidia gives it priority access to cutting-edge chips, allowing ByteDance to tap into that pipeline for hardware it cannot legally purchase in its home market.

ByteDance’s decision is great news for Nvidia, which is racing to secure every foreign sale it can before the export window closes. At the last earnings call, Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, said they’ve seen outstanding demand for their chips.

He commented, “Enterprise adoption of agents is skyrocketing. Our customers are racing to invest in AI compute.” 

The chip maker is also pushing to unveil more products, including the Vera Rubin chips. Built with 1.3 million components, Vera Rubin is designed to be 10 times more energy-efficient than Grace Blackwell. The heart of the system is 72 Rubin GPUs and 36 Vera CPUs, primarily sourced from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).

Most other parts come from different parts of the world, including China, Vietnam, Thailand, Mexico, Israel, and the U.S. However, analysts have raised concerns that Nvidia may struggle to meet chip demand, especially amid surging memory prices. Though more recently, Dion Harris, Nvidia’s AI infrastructure head, assured buyers they are in “good shape.”

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