A 15-second “video” depicting movie heavyweights brad Pitt and Tom Cruise fighting atop a building has sparked a furious response from Hollywood.

The slick, hyper-realistic AI video was created using the Chinese artificial intelligence service Seedance 2.0, which in turn is owned by TikTok owner ByteDance.

Many of the social media users who have viewed it online have marvelled at the seemingly massive jump in AI’s capabilities. But the Motion Picture Association, the organisation that represents most of Hollywood’s big studios, has denounced the service for unleashing a flood of copyright infringement.

“In a single day, the Chinese AI service Seedance 2.0 has engaged in unauthorised use of US copyrighted works on a massive scale,” an MPA spokesperson said.

“By launching a service that operates without meaningful safeguards against infringement, ByteDance is disregarding well-established copyright law that protects the rights of creators and underpins millions of American jobs. ByteDance should immediately cease its infringing activity.”

So realistic is the fight clip that it looks like it could have been cut from a big-budget action movie.

One of the first major industry voices to react online was screenwriter Rhett Reese, whose credits include Deadpool & Wolverine and Zombieland.

After seeing the AI fight between Pitt and Cruise, Reese posted the clip online with a blunt warning.

“I hate to say it,” he wrote. “But it’s likely over for us.”

Reese suggested that AI technology so proficient could signal the beginning of the end for Hollywood creatives.

He later clarified that his reaction stemmed from shock at how advanced AI has become.

SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents representing actors in the US – including Pitt and Cruise – condemned the use of AI tools that replicate performers’ likenesses without consent.

While neither Pitt nor Cruise has publicly commented on the clip, the issue is one the union has been vocal about for years.

Actors have fought to protect their digital likenesses, particularly during recent contract negotiations that addressed AI. They have expressed concerns that if studios or IT companies are able to generate realistic versions of performers without permission, actors lose control over their image and identity.

Supporters of AI video tools argue that technology could one day allow independent creators to compete with major studios and produce ambitious movies without massive budgets.

The Pitt-Cruise video was generated by Ruairi Robinson, an Irish film and advert maker.

“This was a 2 line prompt in seedance 2,” he wrote on X. “If the Hollywood is cooked guys are right maybe the Hollywood is cooked guys are cooked too idk.”

In response to backlash over the video, he wrote: “Today’s question is: should i be killed for typing 2 lines and pressing a button.”