‘It looks like a cinematographer is working’: New Chinese AI model for making videos that even shook Hollywood

 ‘It looks like a cinematographer is working’: New Chinese AI model for making videos that even shook Hollywood

A new artificial intelligence model developed by the company that owns TikTok has caused a stir in Hollywood this week, not because of what it can do, but because of the impact it will have on the creative industries.

The C-Dance 2.0 AI model, developed by technology giant ByteDance, can create cinematic-quality videos, complete with sound effects and dialogue, with just a few written instructions.

In recent days, several videos created with the help of C-Dance, including popular characters such as Spider-Man and Deadpool, have gone viral.

Major studios such as Disney and Paramount immediately accused ByteDance of violating copyright laws, but the concerns surrounding the technology go much deeper than legal issues.

What is C-Dance?

C-Dance was first introduced in June 2025 but didn’t get much attention at the time, but its second version, which came eight months later, has caused a big stir.

“This is the first time that I’m not saying that these videos are good according to AI. Now I’m thinking that these are videos made by a real production company,” says John William Bloom, associated with the creative studio Video State.

He adds that Western AI video models have also made progress in understanding user instructions and creating great images, but it seems as if C-Dance has put everything together.

Like Midjourney and OpenAI’s Sora, C-Dance can also create videos with written instructions. This AI model appears to produce high-quality videos with just a single instruction in some cases.

C-Dance’s challenges

C-Dance is currently facing difficulties due to copyright issues, a growing challenge in the age of AI.

On the other hand, experts warn that artificial intelligence companies are prioritizing technology over humans in the race to create powerful tools and are also using data for this work, which is not paid for.

Major Hollywood organizations have strongly objected to C-Dance’s use of copyrighted characters such as Spider-Man and Darth Vader.

Disney and Paramount have issued ‘cease and desist’ letters, demanding that C-Dance immediately stop using their content.

Later, Japan is also investigating ByteDance for alleged copyright violations after videos of popular anime characters went viral.

Is China at the forefront of the technology race?

With Seadance, the world’s attention has once again been drawn to China.

“This is an indication that at least the Chinese models are catching up with the technology available so far,” says Shannan Kuhn.

Last year, another Chinese AI model, DeepSec, caused a stir around the world with its low-cost language model. It quickly overtook ChatGPT as the most downloaded free app on Apple’s US store.

While Seadance 2.0 was in the headlines, other major Chinese companies introduced their new generative AI tools ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays.

China affairs analyst Bill Bishop wrote in his newsletter that the Spring Festival is quickly becoming an “AI holiday” as companies choose this time to launch their new products so that millions of people sitting at home can try out these new apps.