Chinese artificial intelligence powerhouse and TikTok creator ByteDance has quietly rolled out its latest video generator SeeDance 2.0 worldwide, while its US rival OpenAI called time on a similar product.
The SeeDance 2.0 model was launched in China last month, both stunning and spooking the entertainment industry with its ability to produce near-Hollywood-quality clips from simple text prompts.
However, it has also sparked concerns over copyright infringement, said AFP.
"We have further expanded Dreamina Seedance 2.0 in more markets in CapCut today, across Africa, South America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, with more regions coming soon," CapCut, ByteDance's popular video editing tool, posted on X on Thursday.
It said the SeeDance 2.0 model would initially be available to some paid users.
The rollout includes "firm safeguards" to prevent violations of its safety policies, including the unauthorized use of individuals' likenesses or intellectual property, CapCut said.
Major Hollywood production studios including Disney, Paramount, Warner Bros and Netflix, have threatened legal action against Beijing-based ByteDance over accusations of copyright infringement.
Reports this month suggested that backlash had prompted ByteDance to pause SeeDance 2.0's global launch.
It was not immediately clear if ByteDance had resolved those legal issues. The United States is not among the current rollout markets.
ByteDance, which runs popular short video platforms TikTok and Douyin, has invested heavily in AI in recent years against a backdrop of increasing global regulatory scrutiny of such platforms.
ByteDance announced on Friday the sale of Moonton, an important gaming asset, to a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's sovereign fund for more than $6 billion.
Moonton runs Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, one of Southeast Asia's most popular gaming titles.
ByteDance's move coincides with a broader shift in the AI industry towards more "agentic" tools that focus on performing practical, real-life tasks.
US AI giant OpenAI said on Tuesday it was shutting down its popular consumer-facing video-generating service Sora, a move widely understood to focus more on providing business users with agentic AI capacities.
