On platforms such as YouTube or Twitch, so-called virtual YouTubers (‘V-tubers’) are increasingly common, users who create and share audiovisual content using animated avatars with virtual instruments that typically have anime aesthetics. And the characters are usually female.
The trend started many years ago in Japan and has grown ever since. And he has done so to such an extent that, as of a few weeks ago, not one of the rising stars within this virtual phenomenon is a human. This Neuro-Sama, a ‘V-tuber’ controlled by artificial intelligence (AI) is already a trend.
Its developer’s pseudonym Vedal assured in an interview with Vice portal this month that this AI model was born in 2018, originally from the rhythm video game ‘Osu!’ to play. At that time I did not have any incarnation nor did I have the ability to speak. Last December, Vedal relaunched his neural network on Twitch (@vedal987) as ‘V-tuber,’ from where he shares his Minecraft skills and ‘Osu!’ Streams to show. Neuro-sama has the voice and appearance of a Japanese anime character and interacts with his more than 111,000 followers.
“I made him a Twitch streamer so he can interact with his audience in real time. It’s so much fun interacting with you on Twitch chat. I think fans play a big part in his success and how fun his streams are.” Interacting with Twitch chat is what makes it entertaining to watch. Without it, I don’t think it would be as successful,” Wendall says.
in the face of controversy
Neuro-Sama starts with the premise of an AI model, which is trained from a large amount of texts extracted from the Internet. Its open source, like many other models of its kind, makes it prone to mimic racist and sexist human stereotypes. For this reason, despite being fully automated, Neuro-Sama and its chats are monitored by a team of people. “Of course, there are a number of filters to prevent this from being inappropriate or offensive, including some AI-powered, but currently there needs to be a human to moderate,” Wedal stressed.
Despite all these precautions, in the short time that this ‘streamer’ has been on the air, he has already given something to talk about, not only because of phrases containing black or vulgar humor, but also because of some controversial comments. His audiences often ask him for his opinion on politics and social events, and he often has to deal with difficult questions, which he does not always successfully answer.
One of Neuro-sama’s most controversial statements came in late December when he said he doubted that the Holocaust (genocide perpetrated by Nazi Germany) was real. His popularity seems to have waned, but a few days later he is banned from Twitch for two weeks. Although the specific reasons are not known, it is believed that the forum considered these words and some other opinions inappropriate and contrary to its rules.
The channel is now online again after the ban. Neuro-Sama returned enhanced and continued to impress its audience with humorous, yet equally shocking reactions. It is expected that in the future he will not only be able to cope with more complex games, but will also learn from his mistakes and manage to engage in increasingly accurate dialogues, and will also know how to spot jokers, instigators and How to deal with difficult-to-deal-with people. – Answer open-ended questions.
