Twitch Labels VTubers as ‘AI’

Following one of its end-of-year postings that referred to the numerous VTubers on the platform as AI, Twitch has come under fire from viewers and artists.

With the genre expected to have a significant increase in 2020, VTubers have been among the internet’s fastest-growing content creators. Earlier this year, popular Twitch VTuber Ironmouse temporarily held the title of the platform’s most subscribed female broadcaster, and VTuber agencies like Hololive and Nijisanji have come to represent the genre. 

Larger organizations have taken notice of the expanding trend as well as the huge success that many individual content creators have experienced thanks to the VTuber explosion. Sonic the Hedgehog, the mascot of Sega, made his VTuber debut in the latter part of last year, and a number of other significant businesses followed suit, including Disney, Crunchyroll, and Netflix. As the site nears its end in 2022, Twitch, one of the major sites for many VTubers, sought to promote a number of its top virtual talents. However, there has been a lot of criticism of the announcement’s language from both fans and creators.

Twitch described the virtual content creators as “expanding and creating AI like never before” in an article highlighting some of the site’s top VTubers. Many VTubers on the site criticized the claim.

The wording of Twitch’s remark has drawn criticism from a number of well-known creators, including Vienna and VShojo manager Tomathin, who believe the post inaccurately portrays VTubers and the genre as unrelated to AI. Several of the most well-known Twitch VTubers, including Nyanners, Silvervale, and CodeMiko, were included in the film.

The perceived message behind the tweets would draw criticism from viewers and artists who thought Twitch’s statement minimized the contributions made by its numerous VTuber creators. A variety of VTubers may be found in the higher echelons of the streaming platform, where producers like Ironmouse and Nyanners have built sizable fan bases. The recent migration of Twitch users has also not been unfamiliar to VTubers, with many of them deciding to migrate their viewers to alternative sites. Even CodeMiko, one of the creators in the video, had acknowledged her intention to switch from another site to YouTube. Some of Twitch’s best talent have also tried their hand at streaming with a virtual avatar as a result of the rise in popularity of VTubers on the platform. Scarra, Pokimane, and LilyPichu, three Twitch talent stars who typically stream with a face-cam, have all performed many virtual avatar streams.

Because of the widespread interest in the medium, creators like Kizuna AI have been able to incorporate their achievements into anime and TV shows. The popularity of VTubers on Twitch has demonstrated that the genre is here to stay, and these creators will keep dominating YouTube and Twitch in the years to come.