April 10, 2026
MAN AND ROBOTS: A weekly column from MARS Magazine on AI, Hollywood, and the future of work.
🎬 ByteDance’s Hollywood Doom Machine Lands in the U.S.
1. Back in February, half the major Hollywood studios sent out angry legal letters to ByteDance over its stunningly good AI video tool that allowed users to replicate famous actors and characters. After about a month of silence, ByteDance’s Seedance 2.0 is back, but this time with tighter intellectual property controls. Initially, the newly nerfed version was available in most countries “except” the U.S. But on Tuesday, ByteDance’s CapCut (its video editing suite) team revealed that Seedance 2.0 is now available to U.S.-based users.
What’s Next: The impact Seedance 2.0 made was real. It shocked some and angered others in Hollywood with its fluid movements, accurate replication of characters, special effects, and camera movements. The only thing holding it back was the IP infringement issue. Now that this is mostly solved, CapCut (already a favorite among social media influencers) may see a major spike in adoption.
The Price of AI Video: However, Seedance 2.0 adoption in the U.S. faces new friction in the way of price. The deal that gave Oracle a majority stake in TikTok also covers CapCut (leaving ByteDance with nearly 20% ownership in the U.S. joint venture). Almost immediately after the handoff took place, Oracle doubled the price of CapCut from $90 a year to $180 a year. And that price only covers a smattering of Seedance credits, so most users will need to buy additional credits to use the AI video tool inside the CapCut video editor. Note: Runway also announced the availability of Seedance 2.0 on its platform starting Thursday.
Prediction: The main thrill of the initial Seedance 2.0 videos was the realistic depictions of famous actors in various scenes. Now that ByteDance has pledged to prohibit any such uses, users are left with coming up with original ideas not based on existing IP. If you’ve been following AI video for the last few years, you know that when famous IP isn’t involved, suddenly the AI video director ranks thin out dramatically. Telling great original stories isn’t easy. AI video tools don’t suddenly make someone a better storyteller. I think the place to look for the most impressive original ideas from Seedance 2.0 users will be in the realm of animation. Next to horror (and perhaps comedy shorts), I remain convinced that animation—where experimentation is more tolerated—is the true frontier for AI video, as I outlined here.
✍️ WGA and Hollywood Studios Agree on AI
2. The new contract between the Writers Guild of America (WGA), the people who write the film and TV shows you enjoy, and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the studios that distribute those movies and shows, has been agreed upon. Given the recent cultural souring on AI in the arts, some were nervous that the WGA might repeat 2023 and lead a wave of strikes over AI protections. But that did not happen. Instead, the deal was done relatively quickly.
The AI protections baked into the 2023 deal (studios can’t treat AI writing in the same way as human writing, among other points) remain in place. “[We expanded] our access to information and mandatory meetings if companies seek to license our work to train commercially available [generative AI] systems,” was the only meaningfully new language regarding AI. However, the new contract does carve out a section dictating that studios will notify the WGA if they license any covered literary material to be trained on an AI system, but details about remuneration weren’t outlined, which indicates this is expected to be handled on a case-by-case basis.
The WGA’s Big Gamble: Notably, the contract will last for four years, instead of the typical three. That could work for or against the writers’ union. Four years is a very long time in the AI business, and things may have changed so dramatically by then that it will be far more difficult to establish new writer protections. On the other hand, if the industry, for some reason, moves against AI due to cultural pressures from fans and creatives, the AI in Hollywood landscape may not be as robust in four years’ time.
🎥 Oscar Winner Bets On AI For Documentary
3. “I’ve been working with AI lately on the John Lennon and Yoko Ono documentary that we’re almost done with. AI has been helpful in creating thematically surreal images that occupy a dream space rather than a literal space.”
–Steven Soderbergh, director, Erin Brockovich, Contagion, commenting on his upcoming documentary, John Lennon: The Last Interview.
*Source: Filmmaker Magazine
📺 The Emmys Are Watching AI in TV Closely
4. The pace of AI innovation is unrelenting. As a result, different parts of Hollywood are responding to AI at different times and in different ways. Earlier this year, the Television Academy, the organization behind the Emmys award show, introduced new AI-specific language into its competition rules. “The Television Academy reserves the right to inquire about the use of AI in submissions. The core of our recognition remains centered on human storytelling, regardless of the tools used to bring it to life.”
Why It Matters: Although some still view AI as a rapidly approaching wave of tech that hasn’t quite landed in Hollywood yet, the fact is that AI is already being laced into a number of TV productions. Most notably, Netflix hailed its use of AI in its The Eternaut series, with more to come thanks to its internal Eyeline team focused on AI VFX for the streamer’s latest projects. The next Emmys award show will air on NBC on Sept. 14, 2026.
What This Chart Means: The data from the research indicate that, despite the free chatbot options on OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and Google’s Gemini, the most engaged AI chatbot users are those who pay for the tools for work. Among those paid tools, Microsoft Copilot seems to garner the most attention. Which is interesting, considering an official note that eagle-eyed users recently discovered on Microsoft’s Copilot Terms of Use page: “Copilot is for entertainment purposes only. It can make mistakes, and it may not work as intended. Don’t rely on Copilot for important advice. Use Copilot at your own risk.” Could it be that the most used AI chatbot in professional settings is legally covering itself by asserting that its outputs are all just for fun and not to be taken seriously? Apparently, the answer is a resounding Yes.
MAN AND ROBOTS is a weekly column from MARS Magazine on AI, Hollywood, and the future of work. All editorial text is written by humans.
Cover image: Sreen capture of AI video of Homeland and Hancock, no longer possible on Seedance 2.0
