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ByteDance, MPA reach deal on AI copyright safeguards

ByteDance and the Motion Picture Association said on Aug. 17 that they had signed an agreement to strengthen copyright safeguards for the Chinese company’s Seedance video and Seedream image-generation models, months after the Hollywood trade group challenged how the tools handled intellectual property.

The deal follows a February cease-and-desist letter from the MPA over the tools. Disney and other studios had raised concerns that the AI models could generate content featuring copyrighted characters and celebrity likenesses without authorisation.

ByteDance said newer versions include stronger intellectual-property protections.

The models are available through services including TikTok, CapCut, and Dreamina. Both sides also said they will continue working on safeguards for copyrighted content as AI technology evolves.

Seedance and Seedream also sit alongside ByteDance’s flagship language models in its Seed AI lineup. Seedance 2.0 has been described as a text-to-video model.

The deal is consistent with the MPA’s broader AI stance. The group has argued that AI developers should work within existing copyright law and negotiate licenses with rights holders.

🔗 Source: Reuters

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