ByteDance’s New AI Video Model Can Make 30-Second Clips From a Single Prompt

The Chinese tech company ByteDance revealed Seedance 2.5, the latest version of its artificial intelligence video generator model, during a conference in Beijing on Tuesday, according to a report from The Information.

AI video generation has come a long way since its debut, with each new version becoming increasingly better at producing realistic imagery. We’re far from the first time we saw Will Smith eating spaghetti, which was horrifyingly bad. 

Now, we need watermarking for these AI-generated videos to help identify deepfakes and other synthetic or false content. 

The latest version of the video model allows users to provide up to 50 reference pieces, whether they’re images, videos or audio files — up from 12 in its predecessor, Seedance 2.0. Increasing the number of references will give you greater control over the video creation process. The model can generate 30-second, 4K videos with a single prompt. 

ByteDance has consistently released some of the most impressive AI video generation models, rivaling those of OpenAI’s now-dead Sora and Google’s Veo 3. ByteDance, which previously held a majority stake in TikTok, is said to release the new model in China next month, according to the report. A release time window for other countries was not mentioned. 

The introduction of the new model may turn some heads, and not in the best way. Seedance 2.0’s US rollout was delayed earlier this year under pressure from Hollywood to stop using copyrighted works that appeared to be used for training the model. If the latest model is significantly better than its predecessor, it could see a similar backlash if it can’t address legal and copyright issues. 

ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.