Twitch under fire for labeling VTubers as AI: ‘It’s really insulting’

❘ published: 2022-12-26T03:30:52

❘ renew: 2022-12-26T03:31:10

Twitch is under fire after an erroneous tweet celebrating VTubers’ achievements in 2022 compared virtual creators to artificial intelligence (AI), with many top talent calling the phrasing “insulting” and giving the media nothing known.

VTubing is on fire on Twitch, Breaking into the Top 5 of Platform Tags in 2022. To show their respect for the growth of this virtual medium throughout the year, they created a small video highlighting the top creators and their work.

27 second clip Includes clips from the platform’s top VTubers including VShojo’s Nyanners and Silvervale, Streamy winner CodeMikoand independent talent Uguubear.

However, the caption attached to the tweet angered VTubers, with the platform comparing the real creators behind the avatars to artificial intelligence.

“The VTuber label brings avatars and viewers together in one giant space, where VTubers grow and create artificial intelligence like never before,” it reads. “Oh, and some amazing characters and personalities ensue.”

Many top VTubers on Twitch said that the statement about VTubers “creating artificial intelligence” completely misrepresents the entire medium and shows ignorance on the part of the platform.

“Twitch I appreciate the love, but respectfully, VTubing has absolutely nothing to do with AI,” VShojo Business Development Manager “Tomathin” wrote in reply.

“We don’t create AI, and we’re not AI,” Techy continues. “We are real-time animated characters. We are real people.”

“My character is a rogue AI, but I have nothing to do with any IRL AI,” girl_dm_ added.

Some made fun of the tweet for sounding like it was written by the AI ​​itself: “This sounds like it was written by an AI with a vague understanding of VTubing, that’s funny,” Lord Ethelstan says“Nice try dude.”

The tweet, which went live on Dec. 23 and was viewed 1.6 million times, was still active at the time of posting. More than 3,000 tweets and replies criticized Twitch’s language for undermining the work of one of its largest user bases.

While this is an acknowledgment of the space as a whole, VTubers just want their work to be properly accepted and recognized, not to reduce their achievements to AI.

“AI Art Hurts Not Just VTubersbut a lot of talented artists are creating and collaborating with VTubers, so it’s really insulting and demeaning to mention it like that,” Tomathin said.

“Models take months of different people to behave in a certain way and do certain things to the personality behind them. If VTubers are artificial intelligence, because we use software with machine learning to track faces, then I Think of it as shrinking space.”