The advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology is now innovating beyond text and images into the realm of video content creation. Among these, ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, has unleashed its AI video generation model 'Seedance 2.0', causing a massive stir in the global content creation industry. AI video generation technology, capable of creating movie-like, high-quality videos with simple commands, has lowered the barrier to creation and opened up new possibilities for bringing imagination to reality. However, this simultaneously brings to the forefront serious AI ethical issues such as deepfake technology that creates 'realistic fakes,' copyright infringement due to unauthorized learning from existing works, and infringement of individual portrait rights, demonstrating the dual nature of technology. This article aims to shed light on the remarkable progress of AI video generation technology and new opportunities in content creation, centered around Seedance 2.0. Concurrently, it will deeply analyze the AI ethical challenges we face and explore ways to build a sustainable AI ecosystem.
Seedance 2.0, released by ByteDance in February 2026, was developed based on a multimodal audio-visual joint generation architecture that comprehensively processes text, images, audio, and video. This model features significantly improved generation quality and control functions compared to its previous version, with a particular focus on stable output generation that maintains physical consistency even in scenes with complex movements or multiple people. Users can create desired videos by combining up to nine images, three video clips, three audio clips, and text instructions. It demonstrates astonishing performance, such as generating high-definition videos at a 2K resolution in just 60 seconds. A graphic director in China reportedly used Seedance 2.0 to produce a 2-minute sci-fi short film at a cost of only 70,000 KRW, and it is known that 5-second videos can be produced for 4.5-9 Yuan (approximately 8,000 KRW), drastically reducing content production costs and time. This is expected to open new horizons for AI video production in various fields, including advertising, film, game animation, and e-commerce.
AI video generation technology is particularly prominent in the field of dance content. Various AI dance generators such as Pollo AI, Mango Animate, and Vidgo AI have emerged, offering the functionality to transform still images into dynamic dance videos. Seedance 2.0 has also been improved to more naturally render the connection and balance of movements in scenes involving complex movements or group dances. This is highly attractive to individual creators aiming for viral effects on social media platforms, particularly for dance challenges and short-form entertainment content. Users can select various dance styles like hip-hop, ballet, or salsa, or even upload their own dancing videos for the AI to mimic the movements. In this way, AI dance technology is breathing new life into the social media ecosystem by enabling anyone to create and share engaging dance content without professional skills.
The advancement of AI video generation technology exacerbates the threat of deepfake technology, which creates 'realistic fakes.' Deepfake, a portmanteau of deep learning and fake, refers to technology that uses AI to synthesize or manipulate a person's face, voice, or video. It is projected that AI-driven cyberattacks will become the 'new standard' in 2026, with a surge in sophisticated social engineering attacks utilizing voice and video deepfakes. Cases of deepfake fraud, so sophisticated that even families are deceived, are increasing. This technology is being misused for impersonating celebrities, spreading false videos, and even creating illegal sexual exploitation content. Such deepfake content inflicts extreme psychological distress and social stigma on victims, further causing secondary damage where they must prove they are not the subject of the content. Therefore, securing 'AI authenticity' to counter the deepfake threat, which fundamentally shakes the trust structure of the digital world, has emerged as an urgent task.
With the proliferation of AI video generation technology, issues of copyright and portrait rights infringement have become hot topics. Immediately following the release of Seedance 2.0, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) sent a cease and desist letter to ByteDance, alleging large-scale unauthorized use of copyrighted works from major studios like Disney and Paramount. Legal disputes can arise if AI uses existing copyrighted works as training data without the permission of the copyright-holding creators. Furthermore, the ownership of copyright for AI-generated videos or audio is unclear. In most countries, including South Korea, only 'creative works that express human thoughts or emotions' are protected by copyright law, meaning AI-automatically generated output is not currently protected. Similarly, the issue of personal portrait rights infringement is serious. When AI technology uses photos or videos from the internet as training material without individual consent to create unwanted images, or synthesizes the faces of celebrities to produce content, portrait rights can be infringed. To resolve these issues, establishing clear legal standards and introducing technical safeguards is urgently needed. More detailed information on related legal matters can be found at the Korea Copyright Commission.
Multifaceted efforts are underway globally to address the ethical issues surrounding AI video generation technology. On the technical front, mandating the insertion of invisible watermarks into images or videos created by generative AI, or developing detection technologies that can identify deepfakes in real-time, are emerging as essential security solutions. ByteDance also stated regarding copyright and privacy concerns related to Seedance 2.0, "We are strengthening current safeguards to prevent users from unauthorized use of intellectual property rights and portrait rights." In China, they have taken emergency measures, including suspending the feature that uses photos or videos of real individuals as reference material and introducing identity verification procedures for creating digital avatars.
Legally and institutionally, there are increasing calls for stricter regulations, such as requiring explicit permission from copyright holders when using AI training data, and mandating the creation of agreements that clarify the scope of portrait rights usage and compensation. Furthermore, positioning 'AI authenticity' as a new pillar of security is crucial for preemptively preparing for threats that AI may create and for setting ethical boundaries for technology. Both technology developers and users must adopt a responsible stance, referencing guidelines such as the AI Ethics Guidelines from the Ministry of Science and ICT.
AI video generation technology clearly possesses the potential to elevate human creativity and productivity to a new level. Innovative tools like Seedance 2.0 are transforming the paradigm of content creation, ushering in an era where not only experts but also ordinary individuals can easily produce high-quality videos. However, behind this technological advancement lie serious AI ethical issues such as deepfakes, copyright, and portrait rights infringement. To fully reap the benefits of this technology, active efforts to address these problems are essential, rather than ignoring them. Technology developers must incorporate ethical considerations from the design stage, and users must utilize the technology with a sense of responsibility. Governments and society must establish clear legal and institutional frameworks and enhance AI literacy through education. The future brought about by AI video generation technology entirely depends on how we handle this technology. Finding a balance between innovation and responsibility to build a sustainable AI ecosystem is a task for all of us.
Seedance 2.0 features multimodal capabilities that process various inputs like text, images, audio, and video to generate high-quality videos. It significantly lowers the barrier to content creation by maintaining physical consistency even in scenes with complex movements or multiple people, and by enabling the creation of movie-like videos in a short time at a low cost.
AI video generation technology creates new content by learning from vast amounts of existing data. In this process, it may use copyrighted works as training data without the copyright holder's permission, or generate results similar to existing copyrighted works, thus infringing copyright. Additionally, there is a legal debate that AI-generated outputs are difficult to receive copyright protection as they are not considered 'human creations'.
Preventing deepfake damage requires a combination of technological, legal, and social efforts. Technically, efforts are underway to advance deepfake detection technology and mandate watermarking for AI-generated videos. Legally, penalties for creating and distributing deepfakes need to be strengthened, and victim relief procedures must be clarified. Socially, AI literacy education is necessary to develop the ability to identify and critically evaluate deepfake content.
Under current copyright law, only 'creative works that express human thoughts or emotions' are recognized as copyrightable works. Therefore, videos entirely generated by AI are difficult to protect under copyright. However, if a human adds creative ideas or expressions to the AI-generated output, they may hold copyright for that contribution. This area is still subject to active legal discussion.
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