A line or two of text describing a high-octane action sequence between Hollywood legends Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt can now result in a video in just a few minutes, without any prior knowledge of video editing. And, unlike previous versions of artificial intelligence-powered text-to-video generators, it is increasingly difficult to dismiss newer videos as obviously fake or synthetic-looking.ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW VIDEOChinese company ByteDance, best known for its short-video app TikTok, has now seen its AI video generator, Seedance 2.0, advance to such a level of technical ability. This has put it directly at odds with Hollywood studios.Hollywood trade association Motion Picture Association (MPA) sent a “strongly-worded cease and desist letter to the Chinese tech giant” on Friday (February 20), alleging “systemic infringement” by the tool, according to The Hollywood Reporter. MPA counts among its members industry giants like Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros, Prime Video & Amazon, MGM and Universal Studios.Seedance marks the latest in the tussle between companies deploying AI in creative fields, and pushback from the creators of the materials it was trained on, who have challenged it on the grounds of compensation and copyright infringement.Like any text-to-video generator, Seedance can create everything from animated videos to realistic, documentary-like scenes. It was launched on February 12 and caught the attention of Hollywood studios, with familiar actors and settings spotted across many videos.Seedance 2.0 is not the first model of its kind. OpenAI launched its video generator, Sora, in February 2024, similarly taking the Internet by storm. Compared to some past models, however, there are clear improvements in how Seedance looks less artificial. Its output began inviting concern shortly after its launch.Also Read | Can you trust what you see? How AI videos are taking over your social mediaMPA CEO Charles Rivkin said in a statement, “In a single day, the Chinese AI service Seedance 2.0 has engaged in unauthorized use of U.S. copyrighted works on a massive scale. By launching a service that operates without meaningful safeguards against infringement, ByteDance is disregarding well-established copyright law that protects the rights of creators and underpins millions of American jobs. ByteDance should immediately cease its infringing activity.”Story continues below this adAccording to a report in Global Times, the English paper of the Chinese Communist Party, Seedance is similarly being put to use in China: “In a traditional Chinese courtyard, a young Jackie Chan dressed in black engages in a high-speed chase with Jet Li, clad in white. Set to the stirring theme “A Man Should Strengthen Himself”, the two leap from courtyard walls into an interior hall, launching into a meticulously choreographed fight packed with close combat and technical precision.”A ByteDance spokesperson told CNBC that they had heard the concerns and were “taking steps to strengthen current safeguards as we work to prevent the unauthorized use of intellectual property and likeness by users.”Is this limited to Hollywood?Today, there are no clear guidelines at a global or even national level on the AI-copyright debate. This includes both the content that AI products train on to produce results for user queries, and the absence of clear labelling on the final product when it goes out in the world, distinguishing it as AI-generated.Without regulation, companies producing new AI tools keep popping up, as specific industries target them one at a time and struggle to keep up. For instance, The New York Times’s case against OpenAI touches upon similar concerns. The American newspaper has argued that to train its Large Language Model (LLM) ChatGPT, the company accessed its copyrighted material.Story continues below this ad“Defendants seek to free-ride on The Times’s massive investment in its journalism,” its complaint said, adding that OpenAI and Microsoft used its content “without payment to create products that substitute for The Times and steal audiences away from it”. The trend of news websites losing online audiences has further accelerated following the launch of AI overviews on Google Search, eliminating the need for users to click on news links and reducing the websites’ reach.A similar case was filed in the Delhi High Court by the Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA), along with some of its members, which include The Indian Express, Hindustan Times and NDTV.The two cases whose results are known involved authors and AI companies in the US last year. Courts ruled in favour of Anthropic and Meta, arguing that they did not show material harm to writers in reducing their market. One judge said that AI training on data was the same as “any reader aspiring to be a writer”, in that it was learning and not plagiarising. Another said that compensation to copyright holders needed to be examined, given that AI companies were earning billions.Explained | Are generative AI models built on stolen creative work? Unpacking two court verdictsThe Walt Disney Company also filed a cease-and-desist letter to Character.AI in September 2025 over copyright. Character.AI is known for creating AI versions of fictional characters and celebrities, allowing users to chat with them.What’s next for Hollywood?Story continues below this adWithin Hollywood, there is still no consensus on the scale of the issue and how it should be treated. Rhett Reese, a producer and writer who has been involved with projects like Marvel’s Deadpool films, said on X that he was “not at all excited about AI encroaching into creative endeavors. To the contrary, I’m terrified. So many people I love are facing the loss of careers they love. I myself am at risk.”“I was blown away by the Pitt v Cruise video because it is so professional… My glass half empty view is that Hollywood is about to be revolutionized/decimated. If you truly think the Pitt v Cruise video is unimpressive slop, you’ve got nothing to worry about. But I’m shook,” he added.Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey recently weighed in, stressing the importance of actors leaning on their personality rights. “It’s not going to be enough to sit on the sidelines and make the moral plea… there’s too much money to be made and it’s too productive… So I say, own yourself — voice, likeness, etc.” Ownership of personality rights would require companies to seek permission before use, ensuring that actors have control over their depiction and monetarily benefit from its usage, he argued.But the lack of consensus means that while broadly, those in the creative industry are against many AI tools as they stand currently, it could be only a matter of time before bigger players attempt deals. In December 2025, Disney and OpenAI signed an agreement where Disney agreed to invest $1 billion into the company as an equity stake, as its first “major content licensing partner on Sora”.Story continues below this ad“Sora will be able to generate short, user-prompted social videos that can be viewed and shared by fans, drawing from a set of more than 200 animated, masked and creature characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars, including costumes, props, vehicles, and iconic environments… The agreement does not include any talent likenesses or voices,” read a statement. While this takes care of the legal side of the problem, it still leads to questions about the future of entertainment itself and the fate of professionals who do not possess the same heft as Disney.