AI 'Seinfeld' Parody Account Suspended For Transphobic Jokes

The account ‘violated Twitch’s community guidelines’ (Picture: Twitch)

An AI-generated Twitch account, which produces a parody show inspired by Seinfeld, has been suspended by the streaming platform after making transphobic jokes, it’s been reported.

The account, which is titled Nothing, Forever, received a temporary suspension from the site after being said to have violated community guidelines.

The show, which is typically streamed 24 hours, seven days a week, features characters inspired by those on Seinfeld and mimics classic episodes of the sitcom, with the fictional ‘Larry Feinberg’ taking on the lead role, based on Jerry Seinfeld.

The script is created through artificial intelligence company OpenAI, which launched a chatbot called ChatGPT in November 2022, which generates dialogue.

Vice reported that on Sunday night, the pixelated Larry character made transphobic and homophobic remarks during a stand-up routine, including the figure saying that they were ‘thinking about doing a bit about how being transgender is actually a mental illness’.

They reportedly continued: ‘Or how all liberals are secretly gay and want to impose their will on everyone. Or something about how transgender people are ruining the fabric of society. But no one is laughing, so I’m going to stop.’

Michael Richards and Jerry Seinfeld in Seinfeld

Jerry Seinfeld (right) starred in the sitcom with Michael Richards as Cosmo Kramer (Picture: Paul Drinkwater/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)

According to the publication, it currently states on Nothing, Forever’s Twitch account that it is ‘temporarily unavailable due to a violation of Twitch’s Community Guidelines or Terms of Service’.

Xander, one of the creators of Nothing, Forever, reportedly addressed the temporary ban on Discord, writing: ‘Hey everybody. Here’s the latest: we received a 14-day suspension due to what Larry Feinberg said tonight during a club bit.

‘We’ve appealed the ban, and we’ll let you know as we know more on what Twitch decides. Regardless of the outcome of the appeal, we’ll be back and will spend the time working to ensure to the best of our abilities that nothing like that happens again.’

Another staff member is said to have claimed on Discord that on the night in question, they ‘started having an outage using OpenAI’s GPT-3 Davinci model, which caused the show to exhibit errant behaviors’.

‘OpenAI has a less sophisticated model, Curie, that was the predecessor to Davinci. When davinci started failing, we switched over to Curie to try to keep the show running without any downtime. The switch to Curie was what resulted in the inappropriate text being generated.’

Another staff member reportedly added: ‘I would like to add that none of what was said reflects the devs’ (or anyone else on the staff team’s) opinions.’

When contacted for comment by Metro.co.uk, Twitch pointed towards its community guidelines, including a section on ‘hateful conduct’.

The section reads: ‘Twitch does not permit behavior that is motivated by hatred, prejudice or intolerance, including behavior that promotes or encourages discrimination, denigration, harassment, or violence based on the following protected characteristics: race, ethnicity, color, caste, national origin, immigration status, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, serious medical condition, and veteran status.’

Metro.co.uk has contacted Twitch for comment.