Nothing, Forever / AI-Generated Seinfeld Twitch

About

Nothing, Forever, also known as AI-Generated Seinfeld, refers to a constant livestream on the Twitch channel watchmeforever that is generated by artificial intelligence and based on the '90s sitcom Seinfeld. The generative content is provided through OpenAI's GPT-3, which has machine learning and AI algorithms designed to produce cohesive chat logs. The endless, 24/7 loop sparked interest online predominantly in early 2023 when news outlets like Vice covered its creators and history. In February 2023, the AI Seinfeld Twitch steam was banned for two weeks for a transphobic joke said by AI-Jerry (Larry), inspiring more discourse and memes.

History

The Twitch^[1] account watchmeforever has been streaming its AI-generated sitcom Nothing, Forever since December 14th, 2022.^[2] It was created and launched by the media lab Mismatch Media,^[3] which, according to its bio on Twitch,^[1] is "focused on creating experimental forms of television shows, video games, and more, through generative technologies, and other machine learning technologies." Also stated in the Twitch^[1] description is that Nothing, Forever is run through OpenAI's GPT-3. The only aspects that aren't AI-generated are the laugh track and artwork.^[1] Nothing, Forever amassed roughly 16,200 followers in one month after launching (livestream example shown below).

On January 31st, 2023, Vice^[2] writer Chloe Xiang published an article about the Twitch channel titled, "‘Nothing, Forever’ Is An Endless ‘Seinfeld’ Episode Generated by AI." The article contained interviews with the stream's creators, such as Skyler Hartle, the co-creator of Nothing, Forever, who stated:

The actual impetus for this was it originally started its life as this weird, very, off-center kind of nonsensical, surreal art project. But then we kind of worked over the years to bring it to this new place. And then, of course, generative media and generative AI just kind of took off in a crazy way over the past couple of years…

As generative media gets better, we have this notion that at any point, you're gonna be able to turn on the future equivalent of Netflix and watch a show perpetually, nonstop as much as you want. You don't just have seven seasons of a show, you have seven hundred, or infinite seasons of a show that has fresh content whenever you want it. And so that became one of our grounding pillars. Our grounding principle was, can we create a show that can generate entertaining content forever? Because that's truly where we see the future emerging towards. Our goal with the next iterations or next shows that we release is to actually trade a show that is like Netflix-level quality.

After Vice's coverage, other news outlets like PC Gamer^[4] covered Nothing, Forever in additional articles as word of the channel spread.

Ban For Transphobic Joke

On February 6th, 2023, Twitch banned Nothing, Forever for two weeks after AI-Jerry told a transphobic joke.

#watchmeforever just got banned after producing "this clip" btw I love Nothing, Forever pic.twitter.com/DqtUl1JX1G

— May (@watmay1) February 6, 2023

Moderators explained the incident occurred because they temporarily switched to a backup AI program while they worked on issues with their usual one. They also expressed the views expressed by "Larry" did not reflect their own.

Online Presence

In late January and early February 2023, viral reactions to Nothing, Forever surfaced on social media. For instance, on January 31st, 2023, Twitter^[5] user jjoque tweeted about the stream and received over 230 likes in one day. Later on January 31st, Twitter^[6] user UltimaShadowX tweeted a clip of the livestream, stating, "Watching AI generated Seinfeld and losing my mind, WHAT THE FUCK IS A GRUMBLOX, DUDE?" The video received roughly 21,500 views and over 830 likes in one day (shown below).

Watching AI generated Seinfeld and losing my mind, WHAT THE FUCK IS A GRUMBLOX, DUDE?https://t.co/COkL5ify85 pic.twitter.com/fsRX8dzN1g

— Ultima | #вʟм (@UltimaShadowX) February 1, 2023

On February 1st, 2023, Twitter^[7] user AnimeSerbia tweeted a screenshot from the stream, captioning it, "The AI for the endless procedurally generated Seinfeld episode got stuck and the AI Jerry has been standing in complete silence on the microphone for the past 10 minutes." The tweet received over 4,900 likes in less than a day (shown below).

Related Memes

ai_sponge

ai_sponge or AI-Generated SpongeBob is a constant Twitch livestream of AI-generated parody of animated series SpongeBob SquarePants, with the AI generating dialogue, animations and voicing SpongeBob and Patrick. Launched on March 5th, the channel drew attention on social media with sexual dialogues and discussions of communism and tax fraud.

this ai spongebob is already insane pic.twitter.com/rAoBQD9Lh4

— Stultus (6/6) (@doodlevil) March 7, 2023

Search Interest

External References