Zachary Levi is shocked at the sophistication of Seedance 2.0.
The Shazam! star has been posting about the ByteDance AI model in recent days, sharing user-generated videos and exclaiming that he is “gobsmacked” at the technology.
“Are. We. Paying. Attention. Yet??” he asked when re-posting a video from The Dor Brothers, AI creators who used Seedance to make what they described as a $200M movie in one day.
Levi said he was not necessarily impressed by Seedance 2.0’s final product, rather he was marveling at the speed of progress of generative AI models.
“I don’t share posts about the progress of AI content because I like it, or even think it’s, at this moment, on par with human creativity and artistry. I share them as continuous updates in the evolutionary process of what will eventually become INDISCERNIBLE from human-made art and entertainment,” he said.
“You can call it slop all you want. And most of it is still that. But only for now. Three years ago, ‘Will Smith Eating Spaghetti’ was nightmarish fever-dream. Now, it’s essentially found footage of actual Will Smith eating actual spaghetti. Based on what we’re seeing currently, what does the NEXT three years have in store?”
Levi continued: “This is where we are. Right now. It’s not going to get any worse. It will only keep getting better. We can collectively bury our heads in the sand, or we can do something about it.”
Seedance 2.0 has gone viral in large part because it has been used to create fan-made videos of superheroes — Shazam! among them.
The tech has spooked Hollywood with ByteDance receiving legal threats from the major U.S. studios, including DC Studios’ parent Warner Bros. Discovery. The Chinese company has promised to improve “safeguards” on Seedance 2.0 after the full-throated backlash.
ByteDance told Deadline that the company “respects intellectual property rights and we have heard the concerns regarding Seedance 2.0.” It continued: “We are taking steps to strengthen current safeguards as we work to prevent the unauthorised use of intellectual property and likeness by users.”
