MPA Inks AI Video IP Protection Deal with TikTok Owner ByteDance

Six months after a fully AI-generated viral video of Tom Cruise battling Brad Pitt took the internet by storm, the tech behind the ripoff has been tweaked to protect Hollywood intellectual property and likenesses.

The Motion Picture Association on Monday said that it had reached a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Chinese tech giant ByteDance that will provide “strong guardrails” within its tech and platforms that will protect Hollywood.

The agreement covers Seedance, the AI video model that generated the Cruise vs. Pitt video, as well as Seedream 5.0 Lite, TikTok, CapCut and Dreamina, among others.

The launch of Seedance and the ensuing deal bears a striking similarity to Sora, OpenAI’s video model, which launched last year with a flurry of unauthorized videos featuring well-known characters and people, only to fizzle out after the tech giant agreed to pull back on the ripoffs. OpenAI ended up killing Sora earlier this year.

ByteDance, however, is continuing to invest in Seedance, which has become one of the most advanced video models alongside offerings from Google and others.

“Today’s agreement illustrates our belief that copyright is a cornerstone of the film and television industry – and reinforces our commitment to protect creative content,” said MPA Chairman and CEO Charles Rivkin in a statement. “For the past several months, we have had constructive engagement with ByteDance to implement meaningful guardrails on Seedance and Seedream, and this MOU reflects our shared determination to continue our work together to further fortify those guardrails.”

“ByteDance respects the intellectual property rights that underpin creative industries around the world, and we believe responsible innovation in AI goes hand in hand with meaningful protections for rightsholders,” adds John Rogovin, general counsel of ByteDance. “We appreciate the productive engagement with the MPA and its members as we continue to strengthen safeguards across our generative AI services. This MOU establishes an important framework for continued collaboration as the technology evolves, across a variety of products and platforms.”