For the time being, it appears sitcom writers' jobs are safe from a downright hostile AI takeover.However, the gears are currently in motion on the Twitch account @watchmeforever, where an original Seinfeld spin-off called Nothing, Forever is being synthetically produced in real-time by machine-learning AI.The project was initially uploaded onto Twitch's streaming platform on Dec. 15; however, only recently has the Seinfeld-inspired Twitch account started racking up a significant following -- with 156K followers to date and 11K live-streamers at any given time -- and the numbers keep growing.The AI-generated show captures many of the original elements of the original NBC sitcom: idle conversations "about nothing" between Jerry and George, Jerry performing his signature observation stand-up in the comedy club, exterior shots of Jerry's apartment underscored by funky jazz muzak, Elaine helping herself to Jerry's kitchen appliances.What the machine learning leaves out is any semblance of humanity, which results in a certain dystopian atmosphere and awkward pacing more akin to David Lynch's Inland Empire than anything on primetime TV.Nothing, Forever's co-creators Skylar Hartle and Brian Habersberger told Motherboard they used machine learning, generative algorithms, and cloud services to bring their series to life. Because the dialogue between characters relies on OpenAI’s language model GPT-3, the resulting interactions are surreal, with sparse laugh track placements only enhancing confusion.One scene, for example, shows Jerry making fun of George's outfit while George proceeds to sit on the couch facing the wrong way. In another, the group decides to play a game speaking only in jibberish. The characters do engage in a comedy-adjacent form of banter -- at least, according to how AI interprets comedy -- however, unsettling periods of silence and completely emotionless line deliveries add a certain level of existential dread not envisioned previously by Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David.Fans of the streaming channel have taken to Twitter to express their enthusiasm, with one saying:
AI Replaces Animators in Netflix Anime
AI has previously been used as a solution for labor shortages in the arts & entertainment industry. Most notably, Netflix Japan used original AI-generated artwork for an anime titled The Dog & The Boy to solve its animation labor shortage.
On Twitter, Netflix Japan wrote:
“As an experimental effort to help the anime industry, which has a labor shortage, we used image generation technology for the background images of all three-minute video cuts!”
Many anime fans criticized the move and said using AI to replace human animators unfairly deprives working artists of employment opportunities in a rapidly demand-driven industry, proving increasingly unsustainable for its human workforce.