Two lines of text. That is all it took. An Irish filmmaker typed a brief prompt into a new AI video tool on 11 February and out came Tom Cruise andBrad Pittthrowing punches on a rooftop, shot-for-shot convincing enough to fool half the internet.
The clip, generated by ByteDance's Seedance 2.0, hit 1.3 million views on X within 48 hours. It looked like a scene ripped from a big-budget action film — slick choreography, realistic lighting, facial expressions that held up even on a second watch.
Neither actor was involved. Neither gave consent. Neither, it is safe to assume, was thrilled.
An AI-generated video of Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise fighting in a rooftop is going viral, with people saying AI is getting too realisticpic.twitter.com/SHK4u0iLVa
The worry isn't just legal, it's existential. Seedance 2.0 can pull likenesses, choreography, even signature expressions, from existing films and spin them into new videos in minutes. For studios, that is deeply unsettling.
And yes, that means the next viral fight could feature Jennifer Lawrence or Denzel Washington. Without them ever stepping onto a set.
Hollywood insiders are uneasy. Rhett Reese, the screenwriter behindDeadpool,Wolverine, andZombieland, spoke on X about the clip's quality. He called it disconcerting, noting that one person at a laptop could produce footage almost indistinguishable from a studio's big-budget production.
A post to clarify: I am not at all excited about AI encroaching into creative endeavors. To the contrary, I’m terrified. So many people I love are facing the loss of careers they love. I myself am at risk. When I wrote ‘It’s over,’ I didn’t mean it to sound cavalier or…
'So many people I love are facing the loss of careers they love. I myself am at risk,' he said.
The Irish filmmaker who posted the original video chimed in with dark humour: should he 'be killed for typing two lines and pressing a button?' It was a joke, but it underscored how quickly the conversation around AI and authorship has shifted.
Source: International Business Times UK
