MiniMax H3 AI Model Generates Bootleg 'Office' Clips Despite Lawsuits

Chinese AI model creates unauthorized Hollywood content

MiniMax's Hailuo 3 video generator is producing unauthorized clips of popular entertainment properties including The Office, despite the Chinese AI company facing a lawsuit from Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros., according to a report first published by Deadline.

The model, known as H3, is not directly available to users in the United States or European Union. However, users are accessing it through third-party platforms like Krea, an online studio that aggregates multiple generative AI models. When a tech investor used a simple text prompt through Krea to generate a clip featuring characters Dwight and Jim from The Office, the request was processed through MiniMax's servers, suggesting copyright safeguards are not being properly enforced at the API level.

The studios' lawsuit against MiniMax alleges the company "pirates and plunders copyrighted works on a massive scale." The complaint points to MiniMax's own promotional materials, which featured AI-generated videos of Deadpool, Wolverine, and The Joker on the company's official YouTube channel. Those videos have since been removed.

MiniMax stated that the full H3 model would not be available in the U.S. due to "ongoing copyright-related legal proceedings specifically concerning generative video AI." The company did not respond to requests for comment on the third-party access issue.

ByteDance tightens controls after earlier violations

The situation contrasts with ByteDance's approach to its competing Seedance platform. ByteDance's Seedance 2.5 release has not generated the same volume of unauthorized Hollywood content as MiniMax's H3, indicating the TikTok parent company has strengthened its safeguards following the viral Tom Cruise versus Brad Pitt deepfake fight created with Seedance 2.0.

However, ByteDance's systems are not entirely secure. Researchers at VN.ai, a startup that tests AI tools for copyright infringement, successfully generated recognizable images of Elsa from Frozen, Shrek, and Buzz Lightyear using ByteDance's Seedream 5.0 image creator through a third-party API. The researchers found they could bypass protections by modifying prompts, such as requesting specific pixel dimensions.

ByteDance told Deadline the company "launches models with safeguards designed to prevent unauthorized use of intellectual property, and continually works to expand and strengthen these in collaboration with rightsholders and creative communities."

Why it matters

The MiniMax case illustrates a fundamental enforcement challenge for content owners: even when AI companies implement geographic restrictions or copyright filters on their primary platforms, third-party API access can circumvent those protections. This creates a global whack-a-mole problem where studios must monitor not just the AI companies themselves, but the entire ecosystem of services that provide indirect access to their models. As Chinese AI firms race to compete with Western counterparts, the gap between stated copyright policies and actual enforcement at every access point represents a significant business risk for entertainment companies whose intellectual property fuels viral AI demonstrations.

The details were first reported by Jake Kanter in Deadline's Rendering column, which covers the intersection of AI and entertainment.