Blackburn, Welch Call on ByteDance to Shut Down ‘Seedance 2.0’ AI Video Model Following Copyright Infringement

'Within the first 24 hours of Seedance 2.0-an advanced AI video generation model-going live on February 12^th, the damage was already visible across social media.'

'We view your recent pledges to "strengthen current safeguards" and prevent the mass infringement of American intellectual property as a delay tactic.'

'If ByteDance wishes to build sustainable economic ties with democratic, free market economies, it must immediately shut down Seedance 2.0.'

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) sent a letter to ByteDance CEO Liang Rubo regarding Seedance 2.0's egregious infringement of copyrighted materials belonging to American innovators. Senators Blackburn and Welch are calling on the Chinese company to immediately shut down this platform and comply with U.S. copyright law.

ByteDance's AI Video Generation Model Known as 'Seedance 2.0' Is Fueling Theft of American Creative Work

"We write regarding Seedance 2.0's infringement of the copyrighted materials of both American and global innovators. This technology is the most glaring example of copyright infringement from a ByteDance product to date, and you must immediately shut down Seedance and implement meaningful safeguards to prevent further infringing outputs. Within the first 24 hours of Seedance 2.0-an advanced AI video generation model-going live on February 12th, social media users had already used the platform to generate a brawl between Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt that never happened; they had rewritten the ending of Stranger Things; and they had staged a battle between Thanos and Superman on the surface of Mars. These were not obscure experiments-they were viral moments, racking up millions of views and celebrating, openly and enthusiastically, the theft of American creative work. One content creator shared a comparison of a clip from the film F1 and a near-exact copy generated by Seedance, claiming the AI model replicated the most expensive shot in the film for nine cents. Nine cents."

ByteDance Is Willing to Defy United States Copyright Laws for Monetary Gain

"Responsible global companies follow the law and respect core economic rights, including intellectual property and personal likeness protections. By releasing Seedance 2.0 without any effort to obtain licenses for training materials or prevent unlawful and infringing outputs, ByteDance has shown it is willing to violate U.S. federal law and steal the intellectual property of American creators for its own monetary gain. America's copyright laws-and Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of our Constitution-grant creators broad, exclusive rights to determine how their works are used by others. Seedance 2.0 poses a direct threat to the American intellectual property system and, more broadly, to the constitutional rights and economic livelihoods of our creative community. The reckless way that Seedance 2.0 was released without any regard for the rights of creators has been rightly denounced by multiple creative community stakeholders and experts and now-justifiably in our view-faces massive litigation risk due to the industrial-scale copyright infringement and deepfake abuses that have resulted."

ByteDance Must Immediately Shut Down Seedance 2.0 if Company Wants to Build Sustainable Economic Ties with Free Market Economies

"China's long record of copyright abuses, domestic digital piracy, and infringing export products remains a serious concern for American policymakers. Further, the Trump Administration rightly included China on its most recent 'Priority Watch List' flagging 'longstanding issues, including technology transfer, trade secrets, counterfeiting, online piracy, copyright law, patent and related policies, bad faith trademarks, and geographical indications' and calling for 'fundamental change.' Introducing Seedance 2.0 into American markets with no effort to protect copyrighted material makes it abundantly clear that ByteDance and the Chinese government are unwilling to comply with our laws. We view your recent pledges to 'strengthen current safeguards' and prevent the mass infringement of American intellectual property as a delay tactic to continue to abuse the innovators and profit from their success. Your disregard for American intellectual property is part of a larger trend of artificial intelligence companies stealing protected work at the expense of the creative community. If ByteDance wishes to build sustainable economic ties with democratic, free market economies, it must immediately shut down Seedance 2.0 to cease the mass infringement and related harms it has perpetrated, and excise unlicensed intellectual property from its data holdings."

Click here to read the full letter.