Audet & Partners, LLP, a leading California-based law firm, is currently in contact with actors, voiceover artists, and performers regarding the unauthorized use of their voices and likenesses by major tech platforms. Our investigation focuses on Seedance 2.0 developed by ByteDance.
Reports indicate that this technology may have been trained on a “pirated library” of existing film and television performances, allowing users to create “movies” and “clips” that replicate the unique vocal cadences and physical appearances of established actors without their consent, credit, or compensation.
An Actor’s Identity is Not “Public Domain”
For a professional actor, their voice and likeness are more than just tools, they are their livelihood and their brand. The recent “Seadance Shock” sweeping through Hollywood has raised an urgent question: Do actors still own themselves in the age of AI?
From the actor’s viewpoint, this isn’t about a technological debate; it’s about identity theft as a business model. When a program like Seedance 2.0 or TikTok’s internal AI tools can synthesize a performance indistinguishable from a human professional, it creates several critical harms:
- Vocal Appropriation: Using an actor’s unique “vocal fingerprint” to narrate content or star in AI-generated films without a license.
- Digital Clones: Creating realistic “deepfake” avatars that mimic a performer’s physical acting style.
- Economic Displacement: Replacing human talent with “synthetic” versions of themselves, effectively forcing actors to compete against their own stolen data.
“The unauthorized use of our members’ voices and likenesses is unacceptable and undercuts the ability of human talent to earn a livelihood. Seedance 2.0 disregards law, ethics, and the basic principles of consent.” –SAG-AFTRA Statement
Key Players and Legal Concerns
Our firm is monitoring the actions of major industry entities as this legal landscape evolves. Key names currently involved in this controversy include:
- ByteDance: The parent company of TikTok, accused of “virtual smash-and-grab” tactics regarding intellectual property.
- Seedance 2.0: The specific AI program causing an industry-wide backlash for its ability to generate high-fidelity videos of actors like Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and Sean Astin from simple text prompts.
- SAG-AFTRA & The MPA: Industry unions and associations that have condemned these tools as blatant infringements of performers’ rights.
Legal Protections for Actors
California law has long protected the Right of Publicity, and recent legislation continues to strengthen protections against AI-generated replicas. Whether it is a violation of the ELVIS Act (voice protection) or federal laws like the Lanham Act, performers have the right to control how their persona is commercialized.
Are You an Affected Performer?
If you are an actor, voice artist, or creator and believe your voice or likeness has been used by TikTok, ByteDance, or the Seedance platform without your permission, you may have a legal claim.
Audet & Partners, LLP has a storied history of taking on the world’s largest technology companies to protect the rights of individuals. We are committed to ensuring that the “human” in human artistry remains protected.
Contact Us for a Free, Confidential Case Evaluation
Protect your craft and your career. Speak with an attorney experienced in AI litigation and intellectual property rights.
Frequently Asked Questions: Seedance 2.0 & AI Rights
Seedance 2.0 is an advanced AI video generator developed by ByteDance (the parent company of TikTok). It gained notoriety in February 2026 for its ability to create hyper-realistic videos of famous actors, such as Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, using simple text prompts. The controversy stems from allegations by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and major studios that the AI was trained on a “pirated library” of copyrighted films without the consent of the creators or performers.
In California and many other jurisdictions, the Right of Publicity protects individuals from the unauthorized commercial use of their name, voice, and likeness. AI tools like Seedance 2.0 that “clone” a performer’s vocal cadence or physical appearance to generate new content may be in direct violation of these laws, as well as the federal Lanham Act and the ELVIS Act (which specifically targets unauthorized voice AI).
If there is evidence that your past performances were used to train the AI model without your permission, you may still have a claim. The “theft” occurs during the data-scraping phase, not just when a video is generated. Our firm is investigating the dataset used by ByteDance to determine which performers were impacted.
SAG-AFTRA has officially condemned Seedance 2.0, calling it a “blatant infringement” of performers’ rights. While the union fights for industry-wide protections and collective bargaining, law firms like Audet & Partners, LLP work with individual performers to pursue specific legal remedies and compensation for these violations.
Because ByteDance owns both TikTok and the Seedance platform, the investigation covers how these AI tools are integrated. There are concerns that TikTok’s internal creative tools may eventually utilize the same infringing datasets, further exploiting performer identities across the app’s global user base.
If you are a professional actor, voiceover artist, or media personality, you can contact Audet & Partners, LLP, by submitting the form shown on this page or by calling (800)965-1461 for a confidential case evaluation.