How Twitch Emote Artists Are Tackling The Rise Of AI Art

Twitch emotes are, essentially, the language of the Amazon-owned streaming platform. It’s become customary for streamers to provide unique emotes for their communities to use in chat, so much so that a secondary economy has been built up around Twitch. For years, Twitch emotes (and other stream art) has been a space for artists to make money from their work. Emote artists were in high demand during the pandemic, when more people took to Twitch; demand has slowed since then, but there’s something else threatening artists: the proliferation of AI art.

Generative AI art tools scrape publicly available art — be it illustrations or photos — to create images. That’s art theft, according to a group of artists suing AI companies like Stability AI, Midjourney, and others. (Don’t forget the catastrophic environmental impact of AI, too.) Twitch has been accused recently of introducing AI-made global emote and category banners. While the emote hasn’t been confirmed as AI, some of the category banners are: You can find the images used on Adobe’s stock image page, where at least one, of a Corgi on a treadmill, is most definitely AI. Twitch has not responded to Aftermath’s request for comment.

The impact of AI on Twitch emote artists varies: some emote artists Aftermath spoke to said their communities value art, and that they haven’t seen a major impact. Others, like French artist Laghardra, say their business is struggling. Laghardra said they have created more than 2,000 emotes for hundreds of different streamers, but that AI-generated art has slowed their business. “Unfortunately, over the past year, AI-generated emotes have flooded Twitch and sales platforms like Etsy and Ko-Fi,” they said. “You can now find packs of 50 emotes for less than €10, whereas the average price per emote from an artist is typically €15–18.”

Laghardra continued, “The offer is very appealing, and we simply can't compete. That's why, after six years in this profession, I can no longer make a living from it. My revenue has dropped significantly, and some of my former clients are now creating their own AI-generated emotes — even using mine as inspiration.” 

Plurp, another emote and YouTube thumbnail artist, said there has been a decrease in demand for emotes, but attributes it to the post-pandemic decrease of streaming in general, as well as an increase of bots on Twitter offering art and pushing out actual artists. Twitter has been a space for artists to connect with potential buyers, but Jay, an emote artist, told Aftermath that AI has likely made these bot-based scammers' job much easier. "[Bots] are what make [an] artist's life hell," Jay said.

Several emote artists, including Nana Jiei, said the VTubing community is propping up their businesses. “VTubers mainly do not support AI-generated images and I am very happy and thankful about that,” Jiei said. “My client-base is very keen when it comes to full customization of their emotes and would want them specifically tailor-made for them and their brands.” Still, Jiei is worried about Twitch emotes and art outside the VTubing community; people want “cheaper and fast mass-produced emotes done via the use of AI.”

Taya, an artist who works largely with VTubers, agreed: "The people that are using AI art were never my customers to begin with," she said. Taya said it's not even really about the money — her rates are so low that she's "undervaluing her time" to ensure people can have art. "These people have never had the care to support small artist[s] and give jobs to real people for their art because they don’t have the same level of passion as the people who do art and pay for art," Taya said.

Artists — and people committed to human artwork — are turning to marketplaces like VGen, an art marketplace tailored specifically toward VTubers and streamers looking to commission art. The platform is specifically for human-made art; no generative AI is allowed on the platform. Artists are able to promote their work to people who value human-made art, and streamers can ensure they’re not getting something generated by AI — a little piece of art that can set a stream apart.

And if people are still turning elsewhere after being educated on AI use, some artists said a little shaming doesn't hurt. "I’d say that if you use AI emotes, the [artist] community will degrade you which will, in turn, push you to commission a real artist," an emote artist named Kat said. Other artists emphasized this point, too, especially in the VTuber space.

“Emotes have real power and reach,” Lagharda said. “Tomorrow, you could gain 10 more viewers just because someone used a cool emote in another person’s chat. It’s amazing that such a small, complex piece of artwork can create that kind of effect.”