The Seinfeld-inspired, AI-generated Twitch stream called "Nothing, Forever" is returning online, according to a tweet from Mismatch Media, the company behind the show, reported first by Gizmodo.
The endlessly streaming, surreal experience that taps into 90s nostalgia for New York City was back on air on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. Pacific).
This illustration picture taken on July 24, 2019 in Paris shows the US live streaming video platform Twitch logo application on the screen of a tablet.
Larry's Anti-LGBTQ Tirade
Twitch previously took down "Nothing, Forever" after its lead character, Larry Feinberg, began spouting transphobic and homophobic content that was generated by an artificial intelligence program.
The show's episodes are shorter than typical Seinfeld episodes but have a similar structure. Every installment includes a stand-up interlude, in which the animated Feinberg delivers his lines at a microphone on stage.
During one of these interludes, Feinberg launched into an anti-LGBTQ tirade. He talked about the possibility of doing a routine on how transgender people have a mental illness, how all liberals are secretly gay, and how the transgender community is ruining society.
He then admitted that nobody was laughing and decided to end his monologue. Feinberg's AI-generated content was deemed inappropriate and resulted in the temporary suspension of the show.
Twitch has a strict conduct policy that prohibits any form of discriminatory or hateful material based on sexuality and gender identity. As a result of violating this policy, Nothing, Forever was taken down by the platform for at least 14 days in early February.
After the incident, Skyler Hartle, one of the founders of Mismatch Media, and a developer of the Seinfeld-inspired stream, attempted to clarify the situation on Discord.
According to Hartle's initial statement, the problems began to arise when the OpenAI GPT-3 Davinci model powering the stream started to malfunction. In response, the developers switched to a backup called Curie.
However, it was under this contingency plan that the content allegedly turned in an inappropriate direction.
In a subsequent update, Hartle and co-developer Brian Habersberger claimed that they "erroneously" believed OpenAI's content moderation system was in place, providing guardrails for Nothing, Forever, and Larry Feinberg.
Content Moderation Implemented
In February's post, the developers stated that content moderation would be implemented on the stream before it returned, along with the addition of a backup.
One of the major hurdles for generative AI technology is the presence of content moderation, algorithmic bias, and the possibility of generating offensive and discriminatory content.
Large language models and other artificial intelligence are fed with training data that includes all the standard human impulses and prejudices, which cannot be avoided without implementing extensive and stringent filtering.
Nothing, Forever is currently operating in the same manner as it did before, with approximately 3,500 viewers actively engaged in the stream, a laugh track accompanying the content, and no attention paid to collision detection. However, there have been no reports of any offensive or inappropriate content.
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