Why was AI streamer Watchmeforever banned from Twitch?

AI streamer Watchmeforever was recently banned from Twitch after the AI Seinfeld clone show violated the TOS by making a joke which appeared to denigrate transgender and homosexual people.

While Watchmeforever is not the first streamer on Twitch to be controlled by artificial intelligence, the way it mimics the classic sitcom Seinfeld by generating graphics that imitate elements from the show was a novelty that attracted thousands.

This article will go over why the channel was banned and how the AI based on scripts from ChatGPT made an offensive joke despite having filters that are supposed to weed out inappropriate words.

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Watchmeforever's Twitch ban explained

Those who keep up with the news in the streaming world will remember that Neuro-sama was banned from Twitch earlier this year for similar reasons. The creation of Vedal987 had become quite a hot topic last year after becoming the first AI VTuber on the platform that could interact with the audience as well as play games.

However, last month VTuber got in trouble after making a joke deemed quite anti-Semitic as the premise was holocaust denial. Twitch's ban was swift but temporary, and the creator promised to come back with a more polished algorithm to keep offensive words out.

AI Seinfeld's joke was two-part, and the first one was deemed anti-trans by many on the internet. Watchmeforever's artificial intelligence splits content into scenes from the apartment interspersed with comedic routines to simulate the show. In one such stand-up, the character appears to dehumanize transgender people by likening their existence to a mental illness:

"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."

The next part of the joke makes fun of "liberals" by calling them secret homosexuals and ends with the AI repeating another anti-trans point:

"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."

There is an argument to be made that the joke was not at the expense of transgender or other marginalized communities but was a subtle satirical jab at conservative comedians who offend people with bigoted jokes.

Screenshots shared by the creators revealed that the inappropriate joke made it into the script of Watchmeforever's show because they had to downgrade to an earlier, less sophisticated version of the AI due to a glitch.

"When davinci (ChatGPT AI) started failing, we switched over to Curie to try to keep the show running without any downtime. The switch to Curie was what resulted in the inappropriate text being generated."

The channel has gotten a lot of attention for the ban, which will last another week and a half. While the creators have announced that they will appeal the ban, it doesn't look like it will help their case judging by how Twitch handles bans. Fans can expect AI Seinfeld on Watchmeforever to return with less errant behavior from the third week of February.