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ByteDance’s Controversial AI Video Model Reportedly on Hold Globally Due to Copyright Disputes

ByteDance’s Controversial AI Video Model Reportedly on Hold Globally Due to Copyright Disputes

If you’ve been waiting anxiously to try out ByteDance’s new video model Seedance 2.0, but you don’t have the necessary prerequisites—a phone number with the +86 country code and an account on a Chinese ByteDance platform—it looks like you’ll just have to keep waiting.

According to two anonymous leakers who spoke to the Information, the global release of Seedance 2.0 is on hold amid legal action from movie studios and streaming services.

When it was initially released, Seedance 2.0 appeared to have few if any protections in place to prevent users from generating videos appearing to star celebrities, copyrighted characters, and celebrities as copyrighted characters.

As I noted last month, this model is just the latest of many to trigger copyright disputes that only seem to help them make a splash—this time most prominently from Disney, which has a content partnership with ByteDance competitor OpenAI.

Every new generative model that goes viral seems to have a particularly eyebrow-raising use case, such as the Ghibli memes that followed the release of OpenAI’s GPT-4o. In the case of Seedance 2.0, that use case has largely been John Wick-style action scenes that hold together with C-minus physics and continuity (instead of the F-minus physics and continuity we’ve come to expect).

In one famous instance, an X user posted a Seedance 2.0 video that appeared to show a knock-down-drag out between Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise. Another clip with Cruise and Pitt turned the fight into a Jeffrey Epstein reference, and was notable for drawing attention to the model’s shaky grasp on celebrity voice mimicry.

Deadpool writer Rhett Reese said, according to the New York Times, “For all of us who work in the industry and devoted our careers and lives to it, I just think it’s nothing short of terrifying,” adding, “I could just see it costing jobs all over the place.”

A little over a week ago, a Reddit account associated with the AI cloud company Atlas Cloud provided what it claimed was some detail straight from ByteDance about the public availability of Seedance 2.0. The release was meant to be “before mid-March, but no confirmed date yet.” And that account noted the same thing as the Information: that the ByteDance team is “still finalizing content restriction and copyright compliance work, so the timeline depends on that.”

Gizmodo reached out to ByteDance for a statement, and will update if we hear back.



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Last month, Microsoft announced a slew of upcoming changes to improve Windows 11 and address some of users’ most common complaints about the platform. Chief among the company’s planned fixes was making updates less disruptive. In its blog post on Friday, Microsoft says you’ll be able to “extend the pause end date as many times as you need” and that there are “no limits” on how many times you can reset to another 35-day window. If you don’t re-pause updates at the end of the 35-day period, updates will run as usual.

The changes to Windows Update also include more detailed titles for driver updates, which will now include the device class they apply to, such as display, audio, or battery.

Additionally, Windows 11 will now always have options in the power menu to restart or shut down without running updates, as well as the option to skip updates when setting up a new Windows device. Microsoft is also “unifying the update experience” to bunch together updates so users don’t have to reboot as frequently. Instead, “updates will download in the background, then will wait for a coordinated installation and restart.”

#Microsoft #pause #Windows #Updates #indefinitely #days #timeMicrosoft,News,Tech,Windows">Microsoft will let you pause Windows Updates indefinitely, 35 days at a timeWindows users will no longer be forced to run automatic updates in the middle of a game or a busy day. Microsoft is rolling out some long-awaited changes to Windows Update to users on its Dev and Experimental Windows Insider channels, including the ability to indefinitely delay updates up to 35 days at a time.Last month, Microsoft announced a slew of upcoming changes to improve Windows 11 and address some of users’ most common complaints about the platform. Chief among the company’s planned fixes was making updates less disruptive. In its blog post on Friday, Microsoft says you’ll be able to “extend the pause end date as many times as you need” and that there are “no limits” on how many times you can reset to another 35-day window. If you don’t re-pause updates at the end of the 35-day period, updates will run as usual.The changes to Windows Update also include more detailed titles for driver updates, which will now include the device class they apply to, such as display, audio, or battery.Additionally, Windows 11 will now always have options in the power menu to restart or shut down without running updates, as well as the option to skip updates when setting up a new Windows device. Microsoft is also “unifying the update experience” to bunch together updates so users don’t have to reboot as frequently. Instead, “updates will download in the background, then will wait for a coordinated installation and restart.”#Microsoft #pause #Windows #Updates #indefinitely #days #timeMicrosoft,News,Tech,Windows

changes to Windows Update to users on its Dev and Experimental Windows Insider channels, including the ability to indefinitely delay updates up to 35 days at a time.

Last month, Microsoft announced a slew of upcoming changes to improve Windows 11 and address some of users’ most common complaints about the platform. Chief among the company’s planned fixes was making updates less disruptive. In its blog post on Friday, Microsoft says you’ll be able to “extend the pause end date as many times as you need” and that there are “no limits” on how many times you can reset to another 35-day window. If you don’t re-pause updates at the end of the 35-day period, updates will run as usual.

The changes to Windows Update also include more detailed titles for driver updates, which will now include the device class they apply to, such as display, audio, or battery.

Additionally, Windows 11 will now always have options in the power menu to restart or shut down without running updates, as well as the option to skip updates when setting up a new Windows device. Microsoft is also “unifying the update experience” to bunch together updates so users don’t have to reboot as frequently. Instead, “updates will download in the background, then will wait for a coordinated installation and restart.”

#Microsoft #pause #Windows #Updates #indefinitely #days #timeMicrosoft,News,Tech,Windows">Microsoft will let you pause Windows Updates indefinitely, 35 days at a time

Windows users will no longer be forced to run automatic updates in the middle of a game or a busy day. Microsoft is rolling out some long-awaited changes to Windows Update to users on its Dev and Experimental Windows Insider channels, including the ability to indefinitely delay updates up to 35 days at a time.

Last month, Microsoft announced a slew of upcoming changes to improve Windows 11 and address some of users’ most common complaints about the platform. Chief among the company’s planned fixes was making updates less disruptive. In its blog post on Friday, Microsoft says you’ll be able to “extend the pause end date as many times as you need” and that there are “no limits” on how many times you can reset to another 35-day window. If you don’t re-pause updates at the end of the 35-day period, updates will run as usual.

The changes to Windows Update also include more detailed titles for driver updates, which will now include the device class they apply to, such as display, audio, or battery.

Additionally, Windows 11 will now always have options in the power menu to restart or shut down without running updates, as well as the option to skip updates when setting up a new Windows device. Microsoft is also “unifying the update experience” to bunch together updates so users don’t have to reboot as frequently. Instead, “updates will download in the background, then will wait for a coordinated installation and restart.”

#Microsoft #pause #Windows #Updates #indefinitely #days #timeMicrosoft,News,Tech,Windows
Pronto, an Indian instant house-help startup, is finalizing a funding round led by tech investor Lachy Groom that would value the fast-growing company at about $200 million after investment, TechCrunch has learned.

The deal is expected to bring in about $20 million in fresh capital and would mark a sharp jump from the $100 million valuation at which the company raised $25 million in a Series B round led by Epiq Capital in early March, doubling its valuation in a matter of weeks, two people familiar with the matter said.

Bengaluru-based Pronto completed about 500,000 orders last month and is currently handling around 24,000–25,000 orders daily, up from about 18,000 daily bookings in March and roughly 1,000 last year.

Founded in 2025, Pronto connects households with on-demand domestic help for services such as cleaning and chores, promising quick turnaround times through a managed network of workers.

In March, Pronto founder Anjali Sardana told TechCrunch the startup had expanded from one city to 10 — including Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, and Mumbai — and from five to more than 150 micromarkets. However, much of its activity remains concentrated in a handful of markets, with the National Capital Region accounting for about half of total bookings.

The startup has over 4,500 active professionals on its platform, around 99% of whom are women, Sardana said last month, adding that demand continued to outpace onboarding of new workers as bookings grew about 20% week over week.

Before this funding, Pronto had raised about $40 million in total. Its investors include Epiq Capital, Glade Brook Capital, General Catalyst and Bain Capital Ventures.

Techcrunch event

San Francisco, CA | October 13-15, 2026

Pronto and Groom did not respond to requests for comment.

#Lachy #Groom #India #startup #Pronto #200M #valuation #sources #TechCrunchpronto,Lachy Groom">Lachy Groom to back India startup Pronto at a 0M valuation, sources say | TechCrunch
Pronto, an Indian instant house-help startup, is finalizing a funding round led by tech investor Lachy Groom that would value the fast-growing company at about 0 million after investment, TechCrunch has learned.

The deal is expected to bring in about  million in fresh capital and would mark a sharp jump from the 0 million valuation at which the company raised  million in a Series B round led by Epiq Capital in early March, doubling its valuation in a matter of weeks, two people familiar with the matter said.







Bengaluru-based Pronto completed about 500,000 orders last month and is currently handling around 24,000–25,000 orders daily, up from about 18,000 daily bookings in March and roughly 1,000 last year.

Founded in 2025, Pronto connects households with on-demand domestic help for services such as cleaning and chores, promising quick turnaround times through a managed network of workers.

In March, Pronto founder Anjali Sardana told TechCrunch the startup had expanded from one city to 10 — including Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, and Mumbai — and from five to more than 150 micromarkets. However, much of its activity remains concentrated in a handful of markets, with the National Capital Region accounting for about half of total bookings.

The startup has over 4,500 active professionals on its platform, around 99% of whom are women, Sardana said last month, adding that demand continued to outpace onboarding of new workers as bookings grew about 20% week over week.

Before this funding, Pronto had raised about  million in total. Its investors include Epiq Capital, Glade Brook Capital, General Catalyst and Bain Capital Ventures.

	
		
		Techcrunch event
		
			
			
									San Francisco, CA
													|
													October 13-15, 2026
							
			
		
	


Pronto and Groom did not respond to requests for comment.
#Lachy #Groom #India #startup #Pronto #200M #valuation #sources #TechCrunchpronto,Lachy Groom

Pronto, an Indian instant house-help startup, is finalizing a funding round led by tech investor Lachy Groom that would value the fast-growing company at about $200 million after investment, TechCrunch has learned.

The deal is expected to bring in about $20 million in fresh capital and would mark a sharp jump from the $100 million valuation at which the company raised $25 million in a Series B round led by Epiq Capital in early March, doubling its valuation in a matter of weeks, two people familiar with the matter said.

Bengaluru-based Pronto completed about 500,000 orders last month and is currently handling around 24,000–25,000 orders daily, up from about 18,000 daily bookings in March and roughly 1,000 last year.

Founded in 2025, Pronto connects households with on-demand domestic help for services such as cleaning and chores, promising quick turnaround times through a managed network of workers.

In March, Pronto founder Anjali Sardana told TechCrunch the startup had expanded from one city to 10 — including Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, and Mumbai — and from five to more than 150 micromarkets. However, much of its activity remains concentrated in a handful of markets, with the National Capital Region accounting for about half of total bookings.

The startup has over 4,500 active professionals on its platform, around 99% of whom are women, Sardana said last month, adding that demand continued to outpace onboarding of new workers as bookings grew about 20% week over week.

Before this funding, Pronto had raised about $40 million in total. Its investors include Epiq Capital, Glade Brook Capital, General Catalyst and Bain Capital Ventures.

Techcrunch event

San Francisco, CA | October 13-15, 2026

Pronto and Groom did not respond to requests for comment.

#Lachy #Groom #India #startup #Pronto #200M #valuation #sources #TechCrunchpronto,Lachy Groom">Lachy Groom to back India startup Pronto at a $200M valuation, sources say | TechCrunch

Pronto, an Indian instant house-help startup, is finalizing a funding round led by tech investor Lachy Groom that would value the fast-growing company at about $200 million after investment, TechCrunch has learned.

The deal is expected to bring in about $20 million in fresh capital and would mark a sharp jump from the $100 million valuation at which the company raised $25 million in a Series B round led by Epiq Capital in early March, doubling its valuation in a matter of weeks, two people familiar with the matter said.

Bengaluru-based Pronto completed about 500,000 orders last month and is currently handling around 24,000–25,000 orders daily, up from about 18,000 daily bookings in March and roughly 1,000 last year.

Founded in 2025, Pronto connects households with on-demand domestic help for services such as cleaning and chores, promising quick turnaround times through a managed network of workers.

In March, Pronto founder Anjali Sardana told TechCrunch the startup had expanded from one city to 10 — including Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, and Mumbai — and from five to more than 150 micromarkets. However, much of its activity remains concentrated in a handful of markets, with the National Capital Region accounting for about half of total bookings.

The startup has over 4,500 active professionals on its platform, around 99% of whom are women, Sardana said last month, adding that demand continued to outpace onboarding of new workers as bookings grew about 20% week over week.

Before this funding, Pronto had raised about $40 million in total. Its investors include Epiq Capital, Glade Brook Capital, General Catalyst and Bain Capital Ventures.

Techcrunch event

San Francisco, CA | October 13-15, 2026

Pronto and Groom did not respond to requests for comment.

#Lachy #Groom #India #startup #Pronto #200M #valuation #sources #TechCrunchpronto,Lachy Groom

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