I’ve spent months tracking AI personalities like Twitch streamer Neuro-sama and it feels like acceptance — but I think we’re reading it wrong
Neuro-sama is the most subscribed user on the streaming platform Twitch, where people stream themselves playing, talking, creating, or just hanging out while audiences watch, comment, and interact live. But Neuro-sama is not a person. This is an AI-powered character capable of generating real-time comments, responding to chat, and achieving significant viewership figures.
We’re seeing a lot more AI-generated personalities like this online. The definitions are fuzzy because they don’t all do the same thing and the public doesn’t react to them for the same reasons. For the sake of simplicity, let’s call them AI characters.
After nearly a year devoted to AI, I’m skeptical of the idea that interest in AI characters automatically means we accept them all. Based on my reporting, interviews, and time spent observing how people actually interact with these systems, I think there’s something else going on.
Novelty and “new toy” effect
Most new technologies go through some sort of show phase. Think bold demos, impressive premieres and “wow” moments. AI characters are no exception, especially those that have convincing human appearance and behavior.
That’s why I believe a lot of what’s happening here is just new stuff. Many people are not convinced AI enthusiasts or hardened skeptics. They are simply curious. Engagement increases when people encounter something new, then decreases once it becomes familiar.
This is why AI streamers can function less as artists that people invest in, and more as experiences that people take a look at. Neuro-sama is a good example. This isn’t just a generic chatbot dropped on Twitch. This is a carefully developed, idiosyncratic character, constructed over years by its creator, vedal987. As TechRadar’s Eric Hal Schwartz noted when we covered Neuro-sama earlier this year: “Neuro-sama is the product of years of development. He’s a specific, idiosyncratic character. A generic chatbot on Twitch would have no way of replicating this success.”
This level of know-how makes it interesting. It’s new, technically impressive, and unusual enough to attract attention, even from people who have no interest in replacing human streamers with AI streamers.
But novelty is only part of the story. Some viewers tune into AI character chats or follow AI influencers to spot the cracks, see the slightly off responses, odd pacing, and moments where the illusion slips.
This echoes what roboticist Masahiro Mori described as the uncanny valley: when something is almost human but not quite, it attracts attention precisely because it looks wrong.
Many AI characters are found in this middle zone. They behave humanly enough to intrigue us, but not convincingly enough to sustain emotional investment. Once you understand the trick – yes, he can argue; yes, it can broadcast; yes, it seems realistic – there is not much left to discover. And as more and more AI characters enter the same spaces, that sense of novelty or morbid curiosity is likely to fade even faster.
Why humans always have the advantage
A high number of views makes for good titles, but they are not a good indication of long-term interest. Indeed, we know that people click on unusual things, that algorithms amplify novelty, and that metrics routinely mistake curiosity for something deeper. That’s why you might have liked a raccoon video once, and then all you’re shown for a week are raccoon videos.
When we do the same and assume that opinions equal desire, we risk confusing short-term spectacle with long-term cultural preference.
The philosopher Jean Baudrillard warned against this phenomenon several decades ago in Simulacra and simulationarguing that simulation produces “a reality without origin or reality”. Replicas can attract attention while emptying meaning. The AI characters simulate the performance, but without lived context. They can be monitored, but it’s harder to worry about them.
Human creators, especially on platforms like Twitch, remain compelling for more complicated reasons. They contradict themselves, get bored, tell stories, make mistakes and show us their humanity. Of course, we can’t say the same about all online personalities, but many of us maintain a connection with other humans online. because they are human.
One reason for this is that relationships between audiences and creators are often parasocial. Media scholars Donald Horton and R. Richard Wohl used the term to describe the one-sided connections that audiences form with artists over time. These connections depend on perceived memory, growth, vulnerability and spontaneity – qualities that are difficult to fake.
The uncomfortable reality
Of course, this is subjective. In my reporting on AI therapy and AI relationships over the past year, I’ve spoken to people who actively prefer interaction with AI. because it eliminates humanity, disorder and friction.
There is no social obligation, no reciprocity, no emotional risk. The AI characters fit perfectly into this logic. It’s easy to get immersed in them and give up on them.
We don’t yet know how people will relate to these types of AI characters in the long term – especially as it becomes more difficult to distinguish between what is human and what is not. But for now, it’s worth resisting the temptation to prioritize the spectacle of AI. Sometimes a crowd leaning doesn’t mean they want to stay. He just wants to see how the trick works.
Follow TechRadar on Google News And add us as your favorite source to get our news, reviews and expert opinions in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can too follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form and receive regular updates from us on WhatsApp Also.
The best business laptops for every budget
