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At first glance, it could be the trailer for a new Hollywood blockbuster starring Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise. This was a 2 line prompt in seedance 2, Irish filmmaker Ruairķ Robinson clarifies in a caption on X of the 15-second clip, which shows two of the industrys biggest stars locked in a fistfight on a crumbling rooftop, complete with sweeping camera angles and crisp sound effects. This was a 2 line prompt in seedance 2. If the hollywood is cooked guys are right maybe the hollywood is cooked guys are cooked too idk. pic.twitter.com/dNTyLUIwAV— Ruairi Robinson (@RuairiRobinson) February 11, 2026 The viral AI-generated clip has garnered more than 1.8 million views since it was posted on X last week, triggering panic and backlash from Hollywood. Deadpool screenwriter Rhett Reese reposted the video with the message, “I hate to say it. Its likely over for us.” I hate to say it. Its likely over for us. https://t.co/248PmWnEgr— Rhett Reese (@RhettReese) February 11, 2026 Much has been made of the threat AI poses to a range of industries, including Hollywood. From screenwriters to special effects teams, the dawning realization that the latest tools can now produce highly realistic likenesses alongside high-octane production has only deepened the anxiety among already beleaguered industry insiders. Reese expanded on his stance in a follow-up X post: My glass-half-empty view is that Hollywood is about to be revolutionized/decimated. If you truly think the Pitt v Cruise video is unimpressive slop, youve got nothing to worry about. But Im shook. The clip was created using Seedance 2.0, a new AI service from ByteDance, the Chinese company that also owns TikTok, which launched last Friday. Upon its release, X was quickly flooded with clips from others trying their hand at generating their own major motion pictures. An alternate ending to Game of Thrones went viral (it has since been taken down), as did riffs on Spider-Man, Shrek, and more. New Spiderman trailer? Nope, just another scene created seamlessly with Seedance 2.0Incredible stuff pic.twitter.com/v5eJ4pZAo3— 0xMarioNawfal (@RoundtableSpace) February 9, 2026 ByteDance has since promised to tighten the rules governing its new AI tool following intense backlash from Hollywood over copyright concerns. We are taking steps to strengthen current safeguards as we work to prevent the unauthorised use of intellectual property and likeness by users, the company told Deadline. (ByteDance did not immediately respond to Fast Companys request for comment.) Meanwhile, the studio backlash has been swift and severe. Charles Rivkin, the chairman and chief executive of the Motion Picture Association, which represents the major U.S. studiosNetflix, Paramount Pictures, Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios, Sony Pictures, Universal Studios, The Walt Disney Studios, and Warner Bros. Discoverycalled on ByteDance to immediately cease its infringing activity. 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, he wrote in a statement last week. The actors union SAG-AFTRA has also accused Seedance of blatant infringement, while the Human Artistry Campaign added that, Authorities should use every legal tool at their disposal to stop this wholesale theft. SAG-AFTRA Statement on Seedance 2.0. https://t.co/lbqj1m0AYt pic.twitter.com/Etl8bsj5tA— SAG-AFTRA (@sagaftra) February 13, 2026 Disney, which agreed in a $1 billion deal last year to bring its characters to Sora, the AI companys short-form video platform, also sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance, according to Axios. The letter accused the Chinese company of supplying Seedance with a pirated library of Disneys characters. “We believe this is just the tip of the iceberg,” Disney attorney David Singer wrote, “which is shocking considering Seedance has only been available for a few days.”
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E-Commerce
You may be loyal to United, but the airline really wants you to show your loyalty by carrying around a United MileagePlus credit card or debit card. Chicago-based United Airlines announced a major overhaul to its frequent flyer program on Thursday, with better benefits arriving soon for its cardholders. While the airline cheerily billed the changes as giving travelers new reasons to have one of its credit or debit cards, the changes mean that non-cardholders will soon accrue fewer rewards than they currently do. The biggest change is that starting on April 2, United MileagePlus cardholders can earn up to four times more miles on travel booked with the airline than non-cardholdersand even if the flight wasnt booked with that card. That provision ensures that cardholders, which United deems its most loyal members, still reap more rewards for travel, even if they have to book with a different credit card. As the airline lays out in detail, the changes mean that different tiers of membership status or different cardholders will accrue different rewards for travel. But other changes are also designed to benefit cardholders, including a discount of 10% or 15% on airfare and access to a benefit once reserved to the highest-status members: Saver Award seats for less miles in United Polaris business class. MileagePlus is designed to reward loyalty to United, and our best customers deserve the best benefits in the industry,” Andrew Nocella, United’s chief commercial officer said in a statement. “MileagePlus members can now earn more miles faster with a United cardand every one of those miles will go further with our always-on award ticket discounts and expanded access to Saver Award fares.” STRAIGHT UP INSULT United claims the forthcoming changes to its frequent flyer program will offer cardholders some of the richest rewards among airline or travel credit card programs. But United frequent flyers who dont have a card will likely view the changes as a considerable downgrade because theyll soon earn less on a ticket than they do today. A standard MileagePlus member without status or a credit card currently earns 5 miles per dollar on travel, which will be cut to 3 miles per dollar starting April 2. Cardholders, meanwhile, will earn 6 miles per dollar. Another significant blow to non-cardholders who dont have elite status is that theyll no longer earn miles by booking the airlines basic economy fares. Not only is the scaling back of benefits frustrating to some United flyers, but also how much the airline is pushing its line of credit cards co-branded with JPMorgan Chase. Several Redditors on the r/unitedairlines subreddit lamented that the changes will hurt United frequent flyers who arent U.S. citizens and cantor dont want toget a credit card, with one calling it a straight up insult. Several people also noted that the changes seem to indicate that United cares more about its banking relationship with Chase than flying, with one person saying the airline has essentially become a subsidiary of the bank. Finally, one Redditor who said theyve achieved both gold and “platinum” status levels with the airline purely based on butt-in-seat miles and flights, declared: There goes the last of my United loyalty. CHANGES TO AIRLINE PROGRAMS The travel reward space has become big business in recent years, as credit card companies and airlines individually and collectively try to up the ante to lure customers. But these companies must balance the perks they offer in pursuit of the biggest spenders versus those they dole out to the hoi polloi. Since airlines started teaming up with banks to offer co-branded credit cards, theyve reserved their best rewards for cardholders. Uniteds latest move goes beyond the changes that other airlines have made to their frequent flyer programs in recent monthsand could test the limits on loyalty. United follows competitors Delta Air Lines and American Airlines in stripping the reward benefits for basic economy travel, after those airlines announced the same change in December. Delta also announced increased rewards for people who have one of its credit cards that are co-branded with American Express. Last year, United raised the spending requirements to achieve its premier frequent flyer status. The latest changes to the MileagePlus program have been in the works for about 18 months and are in response to a changing landscape for travel credit cards, as Nocella told CNBC. The company didnt immediately respond to an interview request from Fast Company. In the credit card space in general, a lots changed over the last five to 10 years in terms of the number of travel credit cards that are out there, Nocella said. What Im thinking about as we make these changes for United is to make sure that if you hold the credit card, you put it top of wallet, and then if you dont hold the credit card, theres a reason to get the credit card that seems incredibly compelling if youd like to fly United Airlines and if youd like to have that … trip to Tahiti or to Rome or wherever we may be able to take you. WILL TRAVELERS BE ONBOARD FOR CHANGES? The rewards space has been a bonanza for savvy customers in recent decades, but those freebies come with more and more strings attached. While many companies have opted for the subscription model, leading to subscription fatigue, United may find that theres some pushback in so aggressively tying its sense of loyalty to what credit cards flyers carry in their wallets Its also happening at a time when Americans are increasingly stretched thin financially. Americans had $1.28 trillion outstanding in credit card balances in the fourth quarter, up 5.5% from the same period in 2024, according to figures from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Meanwhile, 29% of Americans have more credit card debt than emergency savings and less than half (47%) of Americans have sufficient liquidity to cover a $1,000 emergency expense, according to an annual survey conducted by Bankrate. And the changes to the MileagePlus Program werent embraced by investors in the stock market. As of late Thursday, United shares fell nearly 6%.
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E-Commerce
West Virginias attorney general filed a lawsuit against Apple on Thursday accusing the iPhone maker of knowingly allowing its software to be used for storing and sharing child sexual abuse material. John B. McCuskey, a Republican, accused Apple of protecting the privacy of sexual predators who use iOS, which can sync images to remote cloud servers through iCloud. McCuskey called the companys decisions absolutely inexcusable and accused Apple of running afoul of West Virginia state law. Since Apple has so far refused to police themselves and do the morally right thing, I am filing this lawsuit to demand Apple follow the law, report these images, and stop re-victimizing children by allowing these images to be stored and shared, McCuskey said. The West Virginia attorney general said the state would seek statutory and punitive damages, changes to Apples child abuse imagery detection practices and other remedies to make the companys product designs safer going forward. In the new lawsuit, the state cites a handful of known complaints about Apples mostly hands-off approach to its image hosting service. The biggest concern: Apple finds far fewer instances of online child exploitation than its peer companies do because it isnt looking for them. In a statement provided to Fast Company, Apple pointed out an iOS feature that automatically intervenes when nudity is detected on a childs device. All of our industry-leading parental controls and features are designed with the safety, security, and privacy of our users at their core, an Apple spokesperson said. Apple walks the privacy tightrope The West Virginia lawsuit isnt the first of its kind that Apple has faced in recent years, though it is the first coming from a state. In late 2024, a group thousands of sexual abuse survivors sued the company for more than $1 billion in damages after Apple walked away from a plan to more thoroughly scan the images it hosts for sexual abuse material. In the case, the plaintiffs legal team cited 80 instances in which law enforcement discovered child sexual abuse imagery on iCloud and other Apple products. Most tech companies rely on a tool developed by Microsoft more than a decade ago to automatically scan images they host and cross-reference those images against digital signatures in a database of known child abuse imagery. That tool, known as PhotoDNA, flags those images and acts as the first step in a reporting chain that leads to law enforcement. In the U.S., internet platforms are required by law to report any instances of suspected child sexual abuse material (CSAM) to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, the organization that spearheads child abuse prevention online in the country. NCMEC collects tips from online platforms through a centralized CSAM reporting system known as the CyberTipline and forwards those concerns, many collected via PhotoDNA, to relevant authorities. In 2023, NCMEC received only 267 reports of suspected CSAM from Apple. During the same time frame, the organization received 1.47 million reports from Google, 58,957 reports from Imgur and 11.4 million reports from Meta-owned Instagram. Apple appears to know the extent of the problem. We are the greatest platform for distributing child porn, Apple executive Eric Friedman said in an infamous 2020 text message that surfaced in discovery during the lengthy court battle between Apple and Fortnite maker Epic Games. Friedman made the statement in a conversation weighing whether the companys policies are weighted too heavily toward user privacy rather than safety. Apple is known for robust privacy practices that make its products famously safe from potential hackers. Over the years, those same encryption systems have frustrated law enforcement agencies like the FBI who have sought data locked away on iPhones in the course of their investigations. At Apple, protecting the safety and privacy of our users, especially children, is central to what we do, an Apple spokesperson said. We are innovating every day to combat ever-evolving threats and maintain the safest, most trusted platform for kids.
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