Why an A.I. Video of Tom Cruise Battling Brad Pitt Spooked Hollywood

A 15-second clip of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt duking it out on a crumbling rooftop at twilight, created by Irish director Ruairi Robinson with Seedance 2.0, quickly unnerved Hollywood. The ByteDance-owned tool produced sweeping camera angles, stunt choreography, crisp sound effects and haunting music from a two-sentence prompt, a leap beyond the rough A.I.

clips that had come before and one that drew near-immediate condemnation. Scriptwriter Rhett Reese said the Cruise-Pitt video sent a "cold shiver" up his spine and called it "nothing short of terrifying," warning that he could "just see it costing jobs all over the place." Industry groups responded swiftly: Charles Rivkin, the Motion Picture Association chair and chief executive, urged ByteDance to "immediately cease its infringing activity," the Human Artistry Campaign said the clips violated the "most basic aspects of personal autonomy," and Disney sent a cease-and-desist accusing ByteDance of supplying Seedance with a "pirated library" of its characters.

Ireland, Hollywood

tom cruise, brad pitt, ruairi robinson, seedance 2.0, bytedance, ai video, rhett reese, charles rivkin, disney, human artistry