Technology is going to kill us all eventually, but first — it’s making us laugh. Mismatch Media is garnering a lot of attention on Twitch for its watchmeforever channel, which is host to Nothing Forever, an infinite AI-generated comedy that is streaming 24/7. Nothing Forever uses the iconic comedy Seinfeld as its foundation, using familiar scenery, bass licks, and four characters that look a lot like Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer. Scenes typically take place in Jerry’s (“Larry”) apartment, and all scenes are split up by a static shot of his apartment building. The Larry character also does standup comedy routines sometimes, and periodically, a faux TV Guide channel will play, scrolling through fictional TV listings. It’s art.
What allows Nothing Forever to generate infinite AI-generated Seinfeld is a combination of OpenAI’s GPT-3 with some set art assets and other AI. Character animations are basic, stiff, and repetitive as one would expect, but it’s all really charming.
If you’re wondering if the comedy dialogue is genuinely clever in Nothing Forever, the answer is of course — absolutely not. The dialogue does flow together from one sentence to the next, but it’s still fairly nonsensical. However, that randomness just ends up making it really funny anyway, especially with the laugh track that plays at random intervals. It’s basically hypnotic. I’ve had this ridiculous thing playing for over an hour now.
Enjoy a dialogue exchange I hastily transcribed on the fly, and I hope the character attributions are correct:
Larry (Jerry avatar): “Hey, guys, I just heard something interesting. Did you know that most people can’t tell the difference between a sliced apple and a jelly donut?”
Yvonne (Elaine avatar): “Are you serious? That’s nuts. How did you hear about that? Sounds like something Fred would do.”
Fred (George avatar): “No way. I wouldn’t eat a jelly donut if you paid me. Although, it would be kind of funny to do a taste test and see who can tell the difference.”
Larry: “Well, I think that’s a great idea. Let’s do it tomorrow.”
Fred: “Alright, it’s a date.”
Larry: “Well, if it’s a date, I’m going to bring the donuts.”
Is any of the above funny? In a genuine sense, no. But in an ironic sense — yes, kind of. But if you’re not sold yet, enjoy one of Larry’s classic comedy standup routines:
Jerry standup: “Hey, everyone, ready for some laughs? Alright, so, what did the fish say when it hit a wall? Dam! Haha. Alright, what did the computer do when it was mad? It threw a tantrum. Alright, one last: What did the egg say when it wanted to dance? Eggcuse me!”
The standup routines seem to be more directly informed by actual comedy jokes, since they sometimes make sense, and I actually laughed really hard for that first one because of how the AI delivered the punchline.
In any case, Nothing Forever and its AI-generated Seinfeld antics are an excellent way to throw away hours of your life, and the six-thousand concurrent people viewing it at the time of this writing would agree.
