Washington DC [US], February 19 : The Sony Pictures has joined the outcry against Seedance 2.0, the Chinese video platform that has united Hollywood studios in their condemnation of AI-generated copyright infringement, reported Variety.
In a cease and desist letter sent Wednesday, the studio demanded that ByteDance company to immediately remove its valuable IP including 'Breaking Bad' and the 'Spider-Verse' films from the Seedance AI training data.
"Given the egregious nature of Seedance 2.0's outputs and the complete lack of observable copyright guardrails at launch, SPE can only conclude that ByteDance's infringements are willful," wrote Jill Ratner, general counsel of Sony Pictures Entertainment, as quoted by Variety.
Sony is the fifth studio to lodge a protest directly with ByteDance, following similar letters from Disney, Paramount, Warner Bros. and Netflix.
According to the outelt, ByteDance has sought to reassure copyright holders that it will strengthen its measures to prevent copyright infringement and misuse of actors' likenesses, but that has not quelled the protest.
"SPE will not tolerate delayed or half-baked measures. Please contact us immediately to confirm that effective, robust, and meaningful guardrails are being implemented forthwith," said Ratner.
Seedance 2.0 AI clips have circulated on social media since last week, with users taking the opportunity to stage superhero fight scenes and create alternate endings of TV shows like 'Game of Thrones' and 'Stranger Things.'
The Motion Picture Association which represents all five studios, plus Amazon and Universal Studios was first out of the gate with its condemnation on February 12, when CEO Charles Rivkin called on ByteDance to immediately cease its infringement, reported Variety.
On Wednesday, Netflix threatened "immediate litigation" if the company did not comply.