Twitch CEO Dan Clancy, who has a PhD in artificial intelligence and is the former head of NASA's AI and Robotics division, describes himself as an expert on generative AI.
Far from seeing the technology as a threat to streaming, Clancy said he's excited about generative AI's ability to enhance the Twitch experience and generate new genres of content for creators.
“This will be a boon for livestreaming,” Clancy said in an interview at the Cannes Lions advertising festival this month.
Twitch streamers were among the first to pick up on the generative AI trend: Experimental media lab MisMatch Media used AI and machine learning to create “Nothing, Forever,” a 24/7 streaming animated parody of the popular sitcom “Seinfeld.”
Clancy acknowledges that these kinds of streams can quickly go out of fashion or become copycats; Bloomberg reported last November that AI-generated shows on Twitch and YouTube are getting few views. And they can be problematic: Twitch's “Nothing, Forever” channel was briefly banned after an AI-generated version of Larry Feinberg went on a transphobic rant.
Clancy said viewers quickly lose interest in AI-generated content once the novelty wears off and they can't form an emotional connection with the human being behind the content.
“The reason that gaming works so well for livestreaming is because it inspires the audience and they respond to it,” Clancy says. “Without that inspiration, it's hard to just sit back and stream and talk.”
Clancy said generative AI offers endless possibilities for inspiration, adding that Amazon-owned Twitch is considering introducing an application programming interface (API) to make it easier for creators to use the technology. Twitch creators have begun using generative AI to organize debates featuring fictional versions of celebrities and historical figures, Clancy said.
He also mentioned the rise of “VTubers” — creators who use virtual avatars, often using motion capture software to replicate real-life human movements. For example, VTuber Fillion wears a full-body suit and performs backflips in front of the camera, which are then replicated by his virtual avatar. The trend was popular in Japan, but was historically limited to professional studio productions, as using visual effects software has historically cost tens of thousands of dollars.
“Two cameras would be enough to do that,” Clancy said of advances in generative AI.
Music streamers face copyright issues
Clancy, who frequently livestreams himself singing and playing piano on his DJClancy Twitch channel, is also enthusiastic about how music streamers can use AI technology to generate lyrics or write songs in the style of a particular artist.
Clancy noted that such content could be problematic from a copyright perspective.Major music labels including Universal Music and Sony Music said they have sent tens of thousands of takedown notices to various AI companies and other tech platforms over unauthorized deepfake versions of their artists' songs and musical likenesses.This week, music labels and industry groups filed lawsuits against two generative AI startups that allow users to create songs from text prompts, accusing the companies of using copyrighted music to train their models.
“The whole point of creation is to build on what other people have created, and that's what we humans do,” Clancy said. “It's only when humans get too close to that that it becomes a problem. I think it's all about making sure it doesn't become too simple plagiarism.”
Twitch recently introduced a “DJ Program” that allows DJs to use popular copyrighted music in their streams and share the revenue generated with the artists' record companies. Documentation for the program, which is expected to launch in July or August of this year, makes no mention of AI-generated music.
Clancy says Twitch isn't a primary target for AI data scraping
Another high-profile issue is the extent to which AI companies are scraping content from the web to train their models without prior permission from publishers. Meanwhile, The New York Times is suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement. Other publishers, including Axel Springer, owner of Business Insider, have also signed content licensing agreements with AI companies.
Clancy said livestreaming platforms like Twitch are not the primary targets for such data crawling.
“You're wondering if they're going after us or YouTube,” Clancy said. “Typically, the people doing these crawls are going after sites that have huge archives of content, and that's not us.”
Twitch's parent company, Amazon, has invested in and partnered with AI startup Anthropic. Amazon is developing its own large-scale language models and services that enable customers to build generative AI applications in the cloud.
