Hollywood Is Losing It Over a Viral Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise AI Video
At first glance, it looks like the trailer for a new Hollywood blockbuster starring Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise.
It's not.
"This was a 2 line prompt in seedance 2," Irish filmmaker Ruairí Robinson wrote on X. The 15-second clip shows two of the movie industry's biggest stars locked in a fistfight on a crumbling rooftop. Complete with sweeping camera angles and crisp sound effects.
Two lines. That's what it took to create.
The viral AI-generated clip has garnered more than 1.8 million views since it was posted on X last week. It has triggered panic and backlash from Hollywood.
What Seedance 2.0 Is
The clip was created using Seedance 2.0—a new AI service from ByteDance, the Chinese company that also owns TikTok. They launched it last Friday.
Upon its release, X was quickly flooded with clips from others trying their hand at generating their own major motion pictures. An alternate ending to Game of Thrones went viral. It has since been taken down. Riffs on Spider-Man, Shrek, and more were also posted.
ByteDance has since promised to tighten the rules governing its new AI tool after intense backlash from Hollywood over copyright concerns. "We are taking steps to strengthen current safeguards as we work to prevent the unauthorized use of intellectual property and likeness by users," the company told Deadline.
Hollywood's Response
The studio backlash has been swift and severe. Charles Rivkin, chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association, which represents the major U.S. studios—Netflix, Paramount, Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios, Sony Pictures, Universal Studios, Walt Disney Studios, and Warner Bros. Discovery—called on ByteDance to "immediately cease its infringing activity."
"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 wrote in a statement last week.
The actors union SAG-AFTRA accused Seedance of "blatant infringement." The Human Artistry Campaign added that "Authorities should use every legal tool at their disposal to stop this wholesale theft."
Disney—which agreed in a $1 billion deal last year to bring its characters to Sora, OpenAI's short-form video platform—also sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance.
The letter accused the Chinese company of supplying Seedance with a "pirated library" of Disney's characters. "We believe this is just the tip of the iceberg—which is shocking, considering Seedance has only been available for a few days," Disney attorney David Singer wrote.
What Screenwriters Are Saying
Rhett Reese expanded on his stance in a follow-up X post: "My glass-half-empty view is that Hollywood is about to be revolutionized/decimated. If you truly think the Pitt v. Cruise video is unimpressive slop, you've got nothing to worry about. But I'm shook."
He reposted the video with the message: "I hate to say it. It's likely over for us."
So a Deadpool screenwriter just said it's likely over for Hollywood screenwriters. Because someone typed two lines into an AI tool and generated a 15-second clip of Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise fighting. This is where we are at right now with AI technology.
What This Actually Means
Anyone with access to Seedance 2.0 can now type a two-line prompt and generate video footage that looks like a Hollywood production. It can generate a realistic likenesses of Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise without their permission or expertise. Without involving screenwriters, special effects teams, or anyone else who typically works on movies.
Two lines. Fifteen seconds. Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise fighting on a crumbling rooftop with sweeping camera angles and crisp sound effects.
That's what has Hollywood freaking out. Not that the technology exists. That it works this well with a two-line prompt. And that it launched publicly before studios could stop it.
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