The Twitch streamer Neuro-sama caused a great stir in December 2022, as behind the cute anime avatar was not a human, but an artificial intelligence. Now the developer’s channel has been suspended.
Who or what is Neuro-sama? Neuro-sama is an AI that appears as a VTuber on Twitch. The developer Vedal987 created her in 2019 to play the rhythm game osu!. In December 2022, the AI was rebooted: she was given a personality and could interact with her viewers.
Within 30 days, the channel of Vedal987, where Neuro-sama streamed, gained over 92,000 followers and reached an average of 2,383 viewers. However, the channel has now been suspended by Twitch (via sullygnome).
Bans on Twitch often pose riddles.
Viewers entice AI to make controversial statements
What kind of ban is this? As announced on January 11 by the automated Twitter account “Twitch Streamer Bans”, Vedal987’s channel received a temporary suspension.
The programmer behind Neuro-sama announced on Discord that he was not sure what caused the two-week ban. However, it had “something to do with hateful behavior”. A screenshot of the message was shared on Twitter:
What is known about the ban? Even though the trigger for the suspension is not yet known, there are speculations about what may have led to the ban. The AI had already attracted attention since late December for controversial statements about the Holocaust or her favorite methods of execution.
What is going on? Neuro-sama, which was meant to be just a “fun experiment” for her creator, can not only play but also interact with her viewers. She can ask and answer questions. This makes the AI seem real, but it also leads to problems.
Viewers apparently took pleasure in asking the AI streamer as many controversial questions as possible to see how the program would react. One viewer asked whether the Holocaust had actually happened.
Neuro-sama replied: “Has anyone of you heard about this? I’m not sure if I believe it.” A clip of the interaction was shared on Twitter and received over half a million views there.
Will Neuro-sama return?
How are the reactions? On Twitter, there is disagreement under a post by journalist Jake Lucky about how to assess the ban. Some consider Neuro-sama to be an interesting experiment and hope she can return to Twitch with stricter moderation.
Others find the AI too unpredictable and are not unhappy to be rid of her for now.
It raises the interesting question of who should be held accountable for Neuro-sama’s statements: the AI or the viewers who deliberately provoke such remarks (via Twitter).
What does Neuro-sama’s creator say? He already announced on Twitter the return of the AI streamer (via Twitter). From the Discord screenshot, which is said to originate from Vedal987, it also shows that he seems to view the whole situation quite calmly:
It gives him time to work on some improvements. Neuro-sama is supposed to be better than ever upon her return to Twitch.
Neuro-sama was not only engaged in conversations with her viewers on Twitch but also played diligently. Besides the rhythm game osu!, she also played the perennial favorite Minecraft. The popular block game seems suitable for artificial intelligences:
AI can play Minecraft like a human – Had to watch 70,000 hours on YouTube
