Paramount Hits ByteDance with Cease-and-Desist in Escalating AI IP War

Paramount has demanded that ByteDance stop using its intellectual property to train and power its generative AI models, Seedance and Seedream, echoing a similar legal threat from Disney just a day earlier. The move escalates the battle between Hollywood and the Chinese tech giant over the unauthorized use of copyrighted material.

• Built on stolen goods: The complaint alleges that ByteDance built its models on copyrighted material without consent, producing content "often indistinguishable" from iconic franchises like South Park, Star Trek, and The Godfather. "It is self-evident that our company’s intellectual property was used to train the models that underlie these tools," the filing states. "Such training was also done without our consent and is a violation of the law."

• Closing ranks: The conflict has intensified following the release of Seedance 2.0, a video generation tool that has alarmed creators and studios alike. The industry appears to be uniting against the practice, as trade groups like the Motion Picture Association and the Human Artistry Campaign have also issued statements condemning ByteDance.

• The real showdown: The studio’s objection is two-pronged, targeting not just the AI-generated output but the foundational training process itself—a practice the tech industry has long defended as "fair use."

This legal battle will test that defense and could ultimately define whether AI models can be built on the back of creative works without permission, setting a major precedent for the entire generative AI industry. The fight over AI extends beyond fictional characters, as actors' unions like SAG-AFTRA are raising alarms over the unauthorized use of celebrity likenesses. This isn't a new problem, as the thorny legal issues of generative AI and copyright have been debated since OpenAI first commercialized DALL-E 2 back in 2022.