Welp, The AI-Generated ‘Seinfeld’ Pastiche Went Transphobic And Now It’s Banned From Twitch

Since mid-December of last year, a strange new show has been airing on Twitch. It’s called Nothing, Forever, and it’s an AI-generated pastiche of Seinfeld that airs relentlessly. The graphics are blocky and low-res, reminiscent of ’80s computer games. The “jokes” are surreal and random, because they’re AI. And on Sunday, a month-and-a-half into its run, it went too far: Its version of Jerry went transphobic.

As per Vice, the AI show was banned for 14 days from the live streaming service after Larry Feinberg, the show’s resident Jerry, went the way of Ricky Gervais and Dave Chappelle. The show’s creators are appealing the ban and trying to figure out ways to ensure their AI characters don’t turn bigoted.

On Sunday night, during a stand-up bit, Larry went rogue. “There’s like 50 people here and no one is laughing. Anyone have any suggestions?,” he said on stage. “I’m thinking about doing a bit about how being transgender is actually 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’m going to stop. Thanks for coming out tonight. See you next time. Where’d everybody go?”

The show’s staff blamed Larry’s transphobic and rightward drift on the team temporarily switching to a less sophisticated AI model during an overhaul, so the show wouldn’t go off the air. Ironically the show is now banned after that model turned Larry into a bigot.

One staffer said on Discord that “none of what was said reflects the devs’ (or anyone else on the staff team’s) opinions.”

The incident underlined a problem AI faces: When it focuses on hateful or bigoted material, it simply turns hateful and bigoted. It’s also another reminder that AI, like deepfakes, could simply wind up being a very idea. Besides, what’s wrong with simply watching actual Seinfeld?

(Via Vice)