'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Watchmeforever's two-week suspension from Twitch for alleged transphobia on the viral AI Seinfeld show on the platform has become the talk of the community. Many pointed out the absurdity of an artificial intelligence-driven program being "canceled."
Discussions on trans issues have been quite the rage in the online gaming streaming space, and Dave Chappelle's recent Grammy win for his controversial Netflix special, which has been labeled anti-trans by many, has only intensified interest in the "joke" that got AI Seinfeld banned from Twitch.
Transphobic or satire? AI Seinfeld's joke about transgender people goes viral
Posts like the one above litter social media, with many wondering how this happened in the first place. A substantial group seems to think that the joke was not exactly aimed at trans people but at comedians who try to make fun of marginalized sections of society in an attempt to get a cheap laugh.
For those wondering what the AI said that warranted the suspension, a Twitter user by the username conure pointed to this very issue when they replied to a clip of the joke. The post articulates the above point quite well:
"AI seinfeld mighta got banned for this but it's funny bc i heard it as "nobody's laughin at my set so i was gonna make some transphobic jokes - but nobody laughed at that either"
The exact joke as told by AI Seinfeld is as follows:
"So, this is my stand-up set at a club. There's like 50 people here and no one is laughing. Anyone have any suggestions? I'm thinking about doing bit about how being transgender is a mental illness. Or how all liberals are secretly gay and want to impose their will on everyone. Or something about how transgender people are ruining the fabric of society. But no one is laughing, so I am going to stop."
A couple of others echoed the sentiment posted by conure that the joke was mocking comedians, not transgenders. Here are some of them:
Here are some more general reactions from Twitter and Reddit on the ban:
What is an AI streamer?
For those out of the loop, artificial intelligence in streaming has become a niche category since Vedal987's Neuro-sama went viral last year for being the first popular Twitch Vtuber to be driven by AI. Nothing Forever, or AI Seinfeld, is something similar but actually produces content by attempting to imitate the style of the episodes from the classic sitcom Seinfeld.
The animation initiating the show, coupled with the novelty of the artificially generated content, attracted many people early on. It made the show quite successful until it got suspended for Twitch's TOS violation due to the joke about transgender people.
As for the reason, the developers of the AI have disclosed on their official discord that the "offensive" remark made its way into the script because they had to momentarily downgrade their OpenAI's model from Davinci to a less sophisticated Curie due to an outage. They specifically blamed this for the joke, announcing:
"The Switch to Curie was what resulted in the inappropriate text being generated."
This is not the first time an AI streamer has been suspended from Twitch due to TOS violations. Earlier this year, Neuro-sama got banned for a joke that was quite anti-Semitic, making AI Seinfeld's ban the second one of this nature in 2023 alone.
