--- title: "New AI Video Generator Is So Impressive That It’s Scaring Hollywood" description: "ByteDance has once again upped the ante with the latest version of its Seedance AI video generating tool. Hollywood is scared." date: "2026-02-14" modified: "2026-02-14" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/seedance-ai-video-generator-scaring-hollywood" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Ethics" --- # New AI Video Generator Is So Impressive That It’s Scaring Hollywood ![ByteDance has once again upped the ante with the latest version of its Seedance AI video generating tool. Hollywood is scared.]() *X / Futurism* Text-to-video generating tools have made [tremendous leaps]() in a few short years. We went from a [horrifying clip]() of actor Will Smith's contorted face temporarily merging with a bowl of spaghetti in 2023 to a far more realistic clip of him enjoying a plate of pasta — [including a soundtrack]() of unnerving squelching and chomping sounds — a mere two years later. Now, TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance has once again upped the ante with the latest version of its Seedance AI video generating tool. It didn't take long for photorealistic footage of "[Lord of the Rings" clips](), rapper Kanye West and ex-wife Kim Kardashian [facing off in a dramatic Mandarin language movie scene](), and of course [Will Smith battling a ferocious spaghetti monster]() to go viral on social media. The impressive technological feat appears to have shaken Hollywood, with "Deadpool" screenwriter Rhett Reese [lamenting on X]() that "I hate to say it" but it's "likely over for us." Reese was responding to a [highly realistic clip]() of actors Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise engaging in hand-to-hand combat on top of a partially broken bridge. The advent of powerful generative AI-based video tools has driven the entertainment industry into a panic, with actors warning that they could one day be replaced altogether. Highly [influential]() [voices]() [in the industry]() have come out against the tech in [full force](), warning of the death of human agency and creativity. As the [*BBC* reports](), the Motion Picture Association (MPA) was outraged that ByteDance's latest tool was allowing people to generate clips of high-profile celebrities at all. "In a single day, the Chinese AI service Seedance 2.0 has engaged in unauthorized use of US copyrighted works on a massive scale," the MPA's chairman and CEO Charles Rivkin [said in a statement](). In response, Bytedance claims to have stopped the ability to generate clips of real people. But given [OpenAI's continuing struggles]() with its own video-generating tool, it remains to be seen how effective the company's approach to guardrails will turn out to be. Beyond allowing users to generate ultra-realistic clips of celebrities, Rivkin also accused the company of allowing rampant copyright infringement. "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," he said, as quoted by the *BBC*. "ByteDance should immediately cease its infringing activity." Others in the entertainment industry tend to agree. "Everything I've seen from this model (Seedance 2) is a copyright violation," Roblox product manager Peter Yang [tweeted](). In short, the latest AI release once again highlights a highly contentious battle over copyright and the agency of human performers in an entertainment landscape that's changing with each new AI release. **More on AI video generators:** [*Google’s New Video-Generating AI May Be the End of Reality as We Know It*]() ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()