2023-07-04 14:25:49
For the past few months, the streaming platform has been hosting channels entirely generated by artificial intelligence that feature fictional characters or AI version personalities.
“Jesus, write a poem regarding my dog Souq Madiq, and don’t forget to name him at the end of each sentence. “Jesus why are you white, you’re from the Middle East, right?” », « Jesus can you rap regarding your father? “Jesus, how do I ask my friend to stop touching me? 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, AI Jesus answers questions from Internet users live on Twitch. Opinions on a video game, practical life advice, political subjects… Everything goes. This bearded avatar always responds with great calm and benevolence, embellishing his responses with somewhat repetitive gestures and a glassy gaze. No slippage to date, and it is to be welcomed for an artificial intelligence. The text he rants is produced by ChatGPT, capable of creating a coherent assembly of words in response to any type of request. Here, the program was obviously fed with biblical texts and catchphrases like “let us continue to spread love through our actions and our words”.
Joe Biden and Donald Trump talk Pokemon
Jesus isn’t the only artificial being officiating on Twitch. We also find SpongeBob, stuck in an endless series of abstruse episodes of the eponymous series alongside his friend Patrick, the starfish. Or Donald Trump and Joe Biden, who have been debating for several weeks now without interruption. Small peculiarity: they have the right to tell jokes NSFW (not safe for work) – to understand below the belt. In both cases, users can suggest discussion topics.
Like those of Donald and Joe, the voices of Bob and Patrick were produced via the PlayHT software, specify the channel descriptions. This app allows you to create a voice clone (from at least one hour of audio file), then generate an audio from a simple text.
The awkward humor of AIs
The first appearance of this kind of content dates from 2022, points out the media my city. Especially with the manga-style V-tubeuse (a virtual streamer), Neuro-Sama. But it’s only been a few months since the genre found a larger following, with the launch of the Nothing Forever channel in early 2023. This offers an endless, pixelated episode of the sitcom Seinfeld. A few days following its arrival on Twitch, the sitcom must be interrupted. And for good reason: one of the characters makes transphobic remarks. This incident gives her more media coverage. And two weeks later, the channel is broadcasting once more. It now has 180,000 subscribers. Another channel broadcasting also an AI version of Spongebob in unlimited was interrupted following too many slip-ups. In particular a use of ketamine for Mr. Krabs and very erotic dialogues between Bob and his friends.
The absurdities produced by these various channels are already finding a small audience of insiders. A Reddit group r/returnfile of 1500 members have fun sharing unusual, funny or embarrassing moments produced by these AIs in automatic mode. Trump humming or revealing Joe Biden’s favorite Pokémon (Wordy, because he’s all soft…); Jesus affirming that yes, the birds are very real (a question that a conspiratorial sphere of the Internet regularly asks).
Behind Jesus and Bob: a strange organization
The strangest thing regarding this case is that a good part of these streams (5 channels precisely including SpongeBob SquarePants and Jesus) are produced by one and the same organization: The Singularity Group. This organization defines itself as a “group of activists working to have a positive impact on the world”. Among its self-proclaimed philanthropists is Bachir Boumaaza, a former gameur professional turned streamer better known as Athene.
One of the AI channels generated by The Singularity Group bears his name: AtheneLive. Its format is quite different from the others. Here it is not one or two avatars that respond to user requests, but regarding fifteen synthetic clones of personalities. It is thus possible to question the AI versions of Elon Musk, Barack Obama, the American deputy Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), Arnold Schwarzenegger, the cook Gordon Ramsay but also a certain number of popular streamers and youtubeurs like Amouranth (known for selling his bath water), Pew Die Pie and Logan Paul. All these little people intervene on demand. Sometimes, it was Athene who played the intermediary between the Internet users and the “guests”. Often they are on their own. To ask a question, just enter your request in the chat, for example: “Ask Gordon Ramsay what he thinks of mint-chocolate ice cream” (in English). And Gordon Ramsay complies – unless the moderators deem your question isn’t funny enough or breaks some rules.
Community-tuned characters
Another interesting aspect: the characters are enriched in a community way. A Discord forum is dedicated to the AtheneLive show. And on this one, Internet users can fill in typical sentences uttered by Elon Musk, Gordon Ramsay and the others. These texts will be used to improve their answers to make them more credible.
For The Singularity Group, these shows are forms of showcases. Because on its site the organization sells its services to brands, offering them to create customized “viral clips”. Like the “Balenciaga Harry Potter” video, in which the characters of the saga appear revamped by the luxury brand thanks to the magic of generative artificial intelligence. This service is one of the many others offered by this dense organization, which also explains how to relocate refugees and raise funds for the “Save The Children” association. If you don’t really see the connection between these activities, don’t hesitate to ask Jesus.
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