Hollywood wants ByteDance's AI video tool banned — and quietly keeps using it

Hollywood has a complicated relationship with ByteDance’s AI video generator Seedance, and the Los Angeles Times has captured it in one detail: many studios haven’t approved the tool — but tolerate its use on a “don’t ask, don’t tell” basis. That’s according to Joel Kuwahara, an animation producer whose credits include The Simpsons.

The public story is very different. After a viral 15-second AI clip earlier this year showed Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise in a fight scene, the Motion Picture Association — the trade group behind the big studios — sent ByteDance a cease-and-desist letter, calling Seedance a machine built for “systemic infringement” of its members’ copyrights. ByteDance’s response has been to lean in harder: a demo event in Santa Monica, around 100 US job openings, a caviar party at Cannes, panels at an Amazon AI event, deals with several indie filmmakers, and early talks about funding AI-generated films. Industry consultant Peter Csathy told the LA Times that AI-savvy creatives currently consider Seedance the best video tool on the market. ByteDance declined to comment.

What’s behind this? Two forces pulling the same industry in opposite directions. Studios genuinely fear a tool trained — allegedly — on their own films being used to generate content with their stars and styles; that’s the lawsuit track. At the same time, production budgets are brutal, and a tool that can generate convincing footage in minutes is exactly what stretched teams reach for — that’s the “don’t ask, don’t tell” track. If this dynamic feels familiar, it’s the TikTok playbook: build something people can’t resist using, let the legal questions trail behind. The unresolved copyright fight is real, though — how it lands will shape what AI video tools everywhere are allowed to train on and generate.

What this means for you: For anyone who just watches movies, the line between filmed and generated footage is going to keep blurring faster than the credits will admit — some of what you see this year was likely AI-assisted, officially or not. For creators, the takeaway is more practical: the tools reshaping video production are already normal on the ground, whatever official policy says, and the people learning them now are the ones studios quietly rely on. Just know the legal ground is still moving — building your workflow on a tool that’s one court ruling away from restriction is a real risk, worth weighing before you depend on it professionally.

Sources

• Los Angeles Times: ByteDance’s TikTok took over social media. Now its video AI is taking over Hollywood
• The Decoder: Hollywood wants Seedance banned and reportedly also wants to keep using it