On February 10, filmmaker Ruairí Robinson made a daring declare on X. “This was a 2 line immediate in seedance 2. If the hollywood is cooked guys are proper perhaps the hollywood is cooked guys are cooked too idk,” he wrote. The put up was accompanied by a video of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt performing a battle scene collectively. The clip gained consideration for its obvious sophistication; it appeared well-choreographed, competently shot, and appropriately lit, that are all parts that different AI video instruments have struggled to convincingly replicate. If Robinson’s declare was true, this was a major leap ahead in AI video know-how. The sort of factor AI hype-men have been shilling for years and which has—till, if Robinson is to be believed, proper now—turned out to be nothing greater than snake oil. There’s only one downside: It’s most likely nonetheless snake oil.
This was a 2 line immediate in seedance 2. If the hollywood is cooked guys are proper perhaps the hollywood is cooked guys are cooked too idk. pic.twitter.com/dNTyLUIwAV
— Ruairi Robinson (@RuairiRobinson) February 11, 2026
Aron Peterson, a author and software program developer who has additionally labored in movie manufacturing, post-production, and visible results, posted a weblog on his web site, Shokunin Studio, questioning Robinson’s story. “The claims being made instantly rubbed me up the mistaken manner,” Peterson wrote. “Different demos of the Seedance mannequin had the same old errors we’ve got come to anticipate from AI video turbines [but this one didn’t].” Specifically, Peterson defined, “AI video turbines are actually unhealthy at simulating practical digital camera strikes, particularly handheld shaky cam,” however within the Cruise/Pitt video, “we will see the digital camera motion.”
So Peterson began researching Seedance 2.0, the brand new AI software from TikTok developer ByteDance that’s already doing large-scale copyright infringement, which Robinson used to create the video. Peterson “hopped over to Seedance’s web site and it solely took 10 seconds to search out inexperienced display footage of two stuntmen performing the identical battle choreography we see within the Cruise vs Pitt scene,” he mentioned. He additionally posted a comparability of the 2 movies on YouTube.
“Was the enter actually only a 2 line immediate or was it truly 2 strains, inexperienced display video footage, and face references too?” Peterson requested. “The proof seems to point out that stuntmen had been filmed from a number of angles, {that a} clip needed to be generated for each angle, after which lastly all clips had been stitched collectively for advertising.” Peterson’s proof implies that the Cruise/Pitt battle scene wasn’t fully AI generated; as a substitute, it was most likely simply face alternative and background creation laid on prime of footage that already existed. As TV author David Slack put it on Bluesky, “In different phrases, like most AI hype — it was a con.”