LOS ANGELES — It was the mouse click heard around the world, when on St. Patrick’s Day 2018, the first animated broadcaster debuted on Chaturbate, bringing a new level of interactivity to the industry, while providing a tantalizing glimpse at the future of cartoon camming.
According to the company, innovation is the name of the game for cam sites, and now with the debut of “Abby Oddly,” the first live, interactive cartoon-based cam girl on its site, Chaturbate has raised the bar for live content diversity. An instant hit on Chaturbate, the blonde, blue-eyed and busty “18-year-old” animated Abby reportedly generated more than 10,000 views and 7,700 followers during her first show — and in the process of delighting her fans, caused quite a stir among her real-life counterparts.
Indeed, copious comments on the AmberCutie cam model and fan board questioned if this technology will change the face of live cams, or if it is simply a novelty that will pass, with opinions ranging from speculation that Abby is a social experiment to a test of artificial intelligence techniques — although it is important to note that the intelligence behind Abby is human, not artificial — relying on a live human voiceover to the animation produced by the crew at FigWiggy.com, where Abby has a blog described as “a cartoon girl [tackling] the wide topic of human sexuality.”
“Humans have a lot of crazy quirks that us toons are unfamiliar with,” Abby reveals. “I intend to harness my fascination with homo sapien sex and use my own learnings to inform and educate.”
Abby calls herself “a spirited and adventurous girl,” who isn’t shy about her sexuality.
“You may have seen me on the dirty, adults-only live chatting website, Chaturbate. I have an account there which I use for both research and pleasure,” Abby exclaims. “In my opinion, there is no better way to educate myself than diving right into the heart of human sexuality and interacting live with all the online perverts that I can!”
Chaturbate COO Shirley Lara told XBIZ that Abby Oddly “certainly debuted with a bang on Chaturbate!”
“The talented animation artists and voice-over performers at FigWiggy approached Chaturbate in January with their unique idea to create a cartoon cam girl that would explore ‘Human Sexuality’ through live interaction on our site and we agreed that it would be an entertaining and innovative addition to Chaturbate’s live streams,” Lara explains. “While there is certainly no way that a cartoon can take the place of the thousands of talented real-life human broadcasters, Abby certainly adds a new dimension and attraction to the incredibly diverse live streams on Chaturbate.”
Lara says the Chaturbate platform can accommodate as many diverse entertainment options as the cam space allows, from solo performers to non-sex shows that focus completely on community and meeting people that share common interests.
“There is so much interest in anime of all forms, from adult themed hentai to more general audience fare, it made sense to allow this type of entertainment into our streaming options,” Lara concludes, “We wish Abby and her creators much success on Chaturbate and are looking forward to the potential for even more advanced animation options to launch on our platform.”
It is these “more advanced animation options” that are most intriguing from not only a technological standpoint but from a sexual and societal perspective as well, with this author long-believing that AI-driven cam bots will eventually replace the bulk of live performers — a prediction that is shared across many media verticals. For example, the Screen Actors Guild, the Hollywood-based union that controls contracting for movie stars and others in the film biz, has feared the digitally-induced demise of actors, their likenesses, and their voices, since at least the 1980’s when computer graphics (CG) tech began to become much more photorealistic — and has seen the digital enhancement and outright replacement of performers since.
Technology similar to that powering Abby has also been used for many years in adult, where around a decade ago, animated customer service reps with eyes that followed cursor movements caused a brief craze on paysites and other platforms by providing guided tours and help with join pages.
Combine photorealism, the ability to customize physical features, costuming, accents, language and more, with the ability of machine learning to use AI and Big Data to get to know the user intimately enough to provide the desired feedback to fans, and wrap it up with mixed reality and haptic devices controlled by the same learning systems, and you may have a product that is superior to that of a human performer in every respect other than perhaps the nuances of expression that only a human can deliver — for now.
Regardless of the implications for AI customer support, technology research, or the fate of human cammers, if Abby continues to garner thousands of viewers and followers, one thing is very clear, “she” will be happy to cam through Chaturbate to advance her research on real human sexuality.
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