Hollywood's film industry, which has strongly pushed back against the spread of artificial intelligence (AI) video generation models, has reached its first formal agreement with AI corporations to protect copyrights.
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) and ByteDance Ltd. said on the 17th (local time) that they signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to apply strong safeguards to AI video and image generation models. This agreement is the first copyright protection pact the MPA has signed with AI corporations. It comes about six months after Hollywood and ByteDance Ltd. clashed over ByteDance Ltd.'s video generation model Seedance.
The two sides did not disclose the specific safeguards included in the MOU. However, it appears to include measures to prevent the unauthorized generation and reproduction of major video content such as films and drama through AI. They said they had made progress on intellectual property (IP) protection in ByteDance Ltd.'s latest video generation model Seedance 2.5 and image generation model Seedream 5.0 Pro.
MPA Chairman Charles Rivkin said, "This agreement reaffirms our belief that copyright is the bedrock of the film and TV industry and our commitment to protecting creative content," adding, "Over the past few months, through constructive discussions with ByteDance Ltd., we have put in place substantive safeguards in Seedance and Seedream, and this MOU is intended to further solidify them."
John Rogovin, ByteDance Ltd.'s chief legal officer, said, "ByteDance Ltd. respects the intellectual property that underpins creative industries around the world," and noted, "We believe responsible innovation in AI must be accompanied by real protections for rightsholders."
Seedance, unveiled in February by ByteDance Ltd., the developer of TikTok, quickly became the focus of a copyright controversy as it generated high-quality videos reminiscent of scenes from real Hollywood films with only short prompts. Irish director Ruairí Robinson created and released a video, using just two lines of prompts, showing Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt fighting on the roof of an abandoned building, making global headlines both for Seedance's capabilities and for the potential violations of the actors' portrait rights and copyrights.
At the time, Hollywood's film industry strongly objected, saying AI video and image generation models, including Seedance, could illegally replicate characters and visual elements from famous works such as Disney's "Star Wars" and "Marvel," and the animated "SpongeBob SquarePants."
The agreement is drawing attention as the first case in which the content industry and AI corporations, which have been at odds over Generative AI, have embarked on concrete cooperation to protect copyrights.