Seedance 2.0 is an image-to-video and text-to-video model developed by Niobotics ByteDance. It was released in February 2026. ^{[1] [2]}

Shortly after it was released, realistic clips based on real actors, TV shows and films went viral across the Internet. Clips included Friends characters reimagined as otters, a fight between Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, and Will Smith engaged in battle with a red-eyed spaghetti monster. ^[3]

It was quickly denounced after release by the Motion Picture Association for copyright infringement. ^[4] On February 13, 2026, The Walt Disney Company sent ByteDance a cease and desist letter alleging that the model had been trained with Disney works without any compensation. ^[5] Paramount Skydance accused the company of engaging in "blatant infringement" of its intellectual property including Star Trek, South Park, and Dora the Explorer. ^[6] On February 16, 2026, ByteDance announced that it "respects intellectual property rights" and "heard the concerns regarding Seedance 2.0." ^[7] It said it would strengthen the safeguards used to prevent the violation of intellectual property rights. ^[8]

After viewing the clip of the fight between Pitt and Cruise that went viral, Rhett Reese, who is the co-writer of Deadpool & Wolverine and Zombieland announced that on social media "I hate to say it. It’s likely over for us," ^[9] further stating that "In next to no time, one person is going to be able to sit at a computer and create a movie indistinguishable from what Hollywood now releases." ^[10]

After seeing the Pitt/Cruise fight scene software developer and creative professional Aron Peterson ^[11] questioned if the scene was purely AI generated or if Bytedance was using a video to video workflow behind the scenes as Seedance's website provided several examples of R2V workflows including a fight that was shot with stuntmen against a green screen backdrop. Regarding claims that 'Hollywood is cooked' his blog post ^[12] concluded that the film industry has nothing to worry about because the best AI video generators including Seedance 2.0 are still replete with many errors and low quality artefacts.

As of February 2026, Seedance 2.0 is available (only for use with a Chinese Douyin user ID ^[13] ) on Android, iOS or in a web browser by the name Xiaoyunque (小云雀) at Jianying.com, the website for ByteDance's video editor Jianying (剪映), branded outside China as CapCut ^[14] and to members of Bytedance's Creative Partner Program.

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