Key insights
- Senators are urging ByteDance to shut down its Seedance AI video app due to copyright concerns, highlighting growing scrutiny of AI companies' use of intellectual property. While ByteDance is taking steps to address these concerns, the incident underscores potential regulatory risks for AI development and deployment, though Congress is hesitant to stifle innovation. This could lead to increased compliance costs and slower adoption of AI technologies in the entertainment sector.
Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Peter Welch are calling for a halt to the new version of ByteDance's artificial intelligence app, Seedance, which generates videos of real people and licensed characters, raising copyright and intellectual property concerns.
Seedance 2.0 "is the most glaring example of copyright infringement from a ByteDance product to date, and you must immediately shut down Seedance and implement meaningful safeguards to prevent further infringing outputs," Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Welch, D-Vt., wrote in a letter to ByteDance CEO Liang Rubo that was first obtained by CNBC.
Their letter is a sign of growing concerns on Capitol Hill about how AI companies are developing and using their models and whether proper protections are in place for those who generate the materials the models train from.
"Responsible global companies follow the law and respect core economic rights, including intellectual property and personal likeness protections," Blackburn and Welch wrote. They cited examples of Seedance 2.0 creations, made after the platform went live Feb. 12, that included actors Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt and the Netflix show "Stranger Things."
A ByteDance spokesperson said in a statement to CNBC that "ByteDance respects intellectual property rights and we have heard the concerns regarding Seedance 2.0. We are taking steps to strengthen current safeguards as we work to prevent the unauthorized use of intellectual property and likeness by users."
Lawmakers aren't the only ones concerned. Hollywood groups including the Motion Picture Association sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance. The Information reported that ByteDance has paused its global launch of Seedance 2.0.
So far, Congress has largely taken a hands-off approach to regulating AI. Lawmakers say they do not want to create guardrails that would limit the ability of U.S. companies to innovate and remain ahead of foreign competitors. Several lawmakers said that because the industry is moving so quickly, legislation they were considering a few years ago would already be out of date and inadequate in covering advances such as agentic AI.
Yet senators including Blackburn and Welch have introduced targeted bills on AI. In August, the duo unveiled a bill to help artists protect their copyrighted works from being used to train AI.