The Family Guy TV series has always had a reputation for walking a tightrope between being satirical and downright offensive. Now, an AI-generated version of the show has been banned from one of its main platforms, the streaming site Twitch, after it seemingly made a bomb threat in one of its sequences. The parody was being hosted on the channel ai_peter, when one of the characters started talking about how best to plant a bomb in an indoor arena venue in Washington DC. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter A Twitter user who was tuned into the show when it happened said the account was disabled within minutes. The show was also later removed from YouTube, and the show is no longer streaming on Kick. Now, users trying to visit the channel on Twitch see the message: “This channel is temporarily unavailable due to a violation of Twitch’s Community Guidelines or Terms of Service.” The parody also featured a sequence in which the AI-generated protagonist Peter Griffin announced the death of Brian, the family's dog, who was a hugely popular character in the original show. AI parody streams court controversy The ai_peter account is the latest in a string of live streamers who have used the technology to mimic scenes from a popular TV show and beam it to users on platforms like Twitch, YouTube and Kick. Another earlier parody is AI Seinfeld, which started generating mocked-up scenes from the hit 1990s sitcom. However, that too was banned after it made an anti-LGBT+ joke. Despite the repeated controversies, AI-generated Twitch streamers have attracted thousands of viewers to their regular streams in recent months, with viewers enjoying the novelty of seeing how powerful the technology can be. The shows typically generate parody scenes from the original shows, while also taking suggestions and interacting with viewers. The AI Family Guy uses OpenAI DaVinci, a writing assistant and content creation platform. It uses audio generated using FakeYou.com, with the stream running 24/7. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

'Want to meet me and win FREE beer for LIFE?' asked Paige Spiranac in a tweet to her fans

I’ve been a lover of books for as long as I can remember. Junie B.

The rise of generative artificial intelligence heralds a new stage of the Industrial Revolution. This phase will be just as disruptive—and transformative—as the previous ones.

EDX Markets, a recently launched crypto exchange backed by firms including Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets and Charles

MrBeast shared that his yacht video beat his 'Squid Game' video by five million views to become the second most watched YouTube video in 24 hours

The Twins’ relatable personalities and their ability to connect with their followers make them a force to be reckoned with in the social media world

SAVE 49%: ExpressVPN can reliably unblock Tencent Video from abroad. A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 18, 2023--

Several attendees at an NFT festival in Hong Kong have been hospitalised after they reported experiencing vision issues, eye-burning sensations and sunburned skin after the event, which was allegedly lit with UV lighting. ApeFest 2023 was held from Friday to Sunday for members of the Bored Ape Yacht Club and their guests. To be a member, people must own an NFT within the collection of digital ape artworks. The Bored Ape Yacht Club artworks, created by blockchain company Yuga Labs, gained notoriety for becoming an exclusive online club that includes celebrities who have bought a Bored Ape NFT, such as Madonna, Justin Beiber, Serena Williams and many more, according to Decrypt. The NFTs, which, like cryptocurrency, sit on a blockchain; the person who owns the image has sole intellectual property rights and can choose to sell to another owner. Many crypto and NFT owners and fans went to the event, but some came away from the experience with bizarre symptoms. Attendees took to X (formerly Twitter) to ask other fest-goers if they had similar symptoms. One user wrote: “Anyone else’s eyes burning from last night? Woke up at 3am with extreme pain and ended up in the ER.” To which another person, under the username @CryptoJune777, replied: “I woke up at 04:00 and couldn’t see anymore. Had so much pain and my whole skin is burned. Needed to go to the hospital.” @CryptoJune77 also added that a doctor said that it could have been the UV lighting coming from the stage that burned their skin and damaged their eyes. Many other people replied to the tweets, saying they had experienced the same issue, with some also adding that they had to go to hospital. Another user, Adrian ZduÅ„czyk, said he had to pay $3000HKD ($383USD) for his hospital expenses after he was diagnosed with “photokeratitis over both eyes” due to unprotected exposure to UV radiation. “So many of my friends are still unaware they must seek medical help to make sure they end up with no damage, as well,” the user wrote. “Please go get your eyes checked immediately. We’ve most likely been exposed to experience similar to Mt Everest climbers - snow blindness.” UV radiation can cause photokeratitis, which is essentially like sunburning your eye, which can produce symptoms such as blurriness, tearing, redness and, in rare cases, temporary vision loss or colour changes, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Photokertitis is often associated with snow blindness, as climbers, snowboarders, or skiers can experience it when the sun reflects off ice and snow. After the sunburn allegations started circulating on social media, the Bored Ape Yacht Club issued a statement on X. “Apes, we are aware of the eye-related issues that affected some of the attendees of ApeFest and have been proactively reaching out to individuals since yesterday to try and find the potential root causes,” they said in their post. “Based on our estimates, we believe that much less than 1% of those attending and working the event had these symptoms.” “While nearly everyone has indicated their symptoms have improved, we encourage anybody who feels them to seek medical attention just in case,” the club added. The owner of the Bored Ape Yacht Club project, Yuga Labs, told The Verge that it is aware of the situation and is taking the reports seriously. “We are actively reaching out and in touch with those affected to better understand the root cause,” said a spokesperson for the company. “Based on our estimates, the 15 people we’ve been in direct communication with so far represent less than one per cent of the approximately 2,250 event attendees and staff at our Saturday night event.” The Independent has contacted Yuga Labs for further comment. Read More Guidance set to urge parents not to buy smartphones for primary school children ChatGPT update allows anyone to make their own personalised AI assistant Elon Musk weighs in on the scooped bagel debate Guidance set to urge parents not to buy smartphones for primary school children ChatGPT update allows anyone to make their own personalised AI assistant Elon Musk weighs in on the scooped bagel debate

It’s been 10 years since Jeffrey Bush disappeared in his own home, and no trace of him has ever been found. The 37-year-old was asleep in bed at his home in Seffner, Florida, when the ground caved in around him, swallowing him into a massive sinkhole. On the night of February 28, 2013, his brother Jeremy heard a loud crash and ran into Jeffrey’s room only to find a vast crater in place of his sibling’s bed. Jeremy jumped into the hole in a desperate bid to rescue his brother but was swiftly pulled to safety as the ground around him continued to cave in. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter "The floor was still giving in and the dirt was still going down, but I didn't care. I wanted to save my brother," he told The Guardian at the time. "But I just couldn't do nothing. "I could swear I heard him hollering my name to help him." Within minutes, local law enforcement had arrived and engineers lowered a microphone into the pit to try to pick up signs of Jeffrey. However, a second collapse sucked the equipment down into the sinkhole and the property was deemed too dangerous for rescue or recovery. Video released of Seffner sinkhole that claimed life of Jeff Bush youtu.be The house was subsequently fenced off and eventually demolished, with the gaping 20ft-wide cavity filled in with gravel. But then, more than two years later, on August 19, 2015, the hole reopened. Specialists at the time pointed out that it was very rare to see such a phenomenon reemerge in the exact same spot. Florida is particularly susceptible to sinkholes as it is home to a high number of underground caverns which are made up of limestone, a rock which easily dissolves in water. In fact, they’re so common, that state law requires home insurers to provide coverage against the danger. And, indeed, someone had visited the Stevens’ home just weeks before the tragedy to check for sinkholes and other risks on the property, apparently for insurance purposes. "[The inspector] said there was nothing wrong with the house. Nothing,” Jeremy told The Guardian. “And a couple of months later, my brother dies. In a sinkhole.” So what happened to Jeffrey’s body? Well, Philip van Beynen, a University of South Florida environmental scientist, concluded that it had most likely dropped into a 60ft-tall water-filled void between the sinkhole and the lower bedrock. The body would have sunk much deeper than the gravel pit seen from the street, van Beynen told USA Today. He stressed that any attempt to retrieve it would have been unwise, if not impossible, as the ground around the hole could have collapsed as well. "It would be extraordinarily difficult and incredibly expensive," he noted. Still, that’s little comfort to the Stevens’ who never got to bury their loved-one or, even, to properly say goodbye. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 18, 2023--